• Newly expanded to feature additional artworks from more diverse artists
• Fresh commentary across the six chapters to update the publication to present day
• Builds on six key themes that help to draw compelling – and perhaps unexpected – parallels in the story of art across different cultures and time periods, highlighted with a clear visual identity

The most compelling short exploration of the visual arts that I have read since John Berger's Ways of Seeing.

A wonderful introduction to art: precise, accessible and informative. The reader is expertly conducted through the major approaches to the making and understanding of art across the world.

A highly readable introduction to art, drawing on a deep historical sensibility, engaged by the voices of the artists as well as the aesthetic criteria involved in making and looking at art. No other introduction to art addresses these basic aspects of viewing so pertinent to the age of the image.

Dana Arnold is Professor of Architecture at Manchester School of Architecture, UK. She is the author of Art History: A Very Short Introduction, which has been translated into twelve languages. Her recent edited volumes include A Companion to British Art, Art History: Contemporary Perspectives on Method and Biographies and Space.