Great Mysteries of Painting

- What is the Girl with a Pearl Earring looking at with such intensity?
- What anomalies did Van Eyck hide in the Arnolfini Portrait?
- Who is the mysterious woman depicted in the Mona Lisa?
- Why did Hans Holbein include in his painting The Ambassadors the image of a distorted skull through an astonishing anamorphosis?
- Who is looking at whom in Velázquez's Las Meninas?
- Why has Impression, Sunrise become a cult painting?
- What terrible fear inspired Edvard Munch's The Scream?
- Why is Sérusier's The Talisman so fascinating?
- What clues did Picasso hide in Guernica that alter the meaning of the work?

One painting can conceal another, equally fascinating. Pictorial language is full of enigmas, ambiguities, contradictions... These relate to technique, but also to representation, meaning, and reception. The greatest works of art raise more questions than they answer, and their power of fascination often lies in the mysteries they hold.

From Botticelli's The Birth of Venus to Magritte's The Empire of Light, the undisputed master of enigma, The Great Mysteries of Painting reveals some of these grey areas. A game of hide-and-seek, scattered clues, encrypted meaning – rediscover, from a new perspective, thanks to a fast-paced investigation through overall and detailed analysis, the greatest masterpieces in art history. But be warned, you will never look at them the same way again...