Great Art Explained

James Payne is a writer and curator whose YouTube channel, also called Great Art Explained, has drawn a large audience around the world. This book carries that approach into print, aiming to make art appreciation accessible, relevant and entertaining. It tells the stories behind some of the world's best-known paintings and sculptures.

Payne holds that how you look at a work matters: placing it in context and understanding its history is what brings it to life. He gives a direct, no-nonsense analysis of 30 masterpieces from around the globe and explains what makes each of them endure. Each chapter covers the artwork itself and the life of the artist, and shows where the piece sits within the artist's wider body of work.

The selection ranges from Hilma af Klint's occult altarpieces to Monet's Water Lilies, and from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus to Georgia O'Keeffe's Jimson Weed. The book is written for both seasoned art lovers and curious newcomers.