Secret Lives of Great Artists

My mom passed this book on to me a while ago, and although it has taken me forever to read, it is really good and easy.

Secret Lives of Great Artists
Elizabeth Lunday

This is a pretty quirky book, and I've never read anything like it before. Basically, there are about 3-4 pages about each artist featured, in chronological life order, and each artist gets a brief little life and art bio. Unlike most other summaries of artists, this features crazy facts about the different artists, many of which I had no idea before. I think it's beyond just voyeuristic to get to peek into their closet of secrets (most well-known by societies at the time) because it often helps inform the viewing of their art better. Also, getting an understanding of the artist's real life can enhance our understanding not only of the person behind the art, but the society as a whole. And as Art History has always appealed to me as a way to better know a culture and time period, I think it's nice to get that extra glimpse and perspective. Plus, it's an entertaining book...

In the words of the write-up for the book on the publisher's site:

Here are outrageous and uncensored profiles of the world’s greatest artists, complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright bizarre facts. 

Consider:
• Michelangelo had such repellant body odor that his assistants couldn’t stand working for him.
• Pablo Picasso did jail time for ripping off several statues from the Louvre.
• Gabriel Dante Rossetti’s favorite pet was a wombat that slept on his dining room table.
• Vincent van Gogh sometimes ate paint directly from the tube.
• Georgia O’Keeffe liked to paint in the nude.
• Salvador Dalí concocted a perfume from dung to attract the attention of his future wife. 

With outrageous anecdotes about everyone from Leonardo (accused sodomist) to Caravaggio (convicted murderer) to Edward Hopper (alleged wife beater), Secret Lives of Great Artists is an art history lesson you’ll never forget!