His pictures look curious, his figures introverted and his street scenes strangely stage-like. Jacobus Vrel records everyday life in Holland during the 17th century, and creates quirky worlds at the same time. This volume presents the fascinating complete œuvre of a painter whose works were thought during the 19th century to have been painted by Vermeer.

His pictures look curious, his figures introverted and his street scenes strangely stage-like. Jacobus Vrel records everyday life in Holland during the 17th century, and creates quirky worlds at the same time. This volume presents the fascinating complete œuvre of a painter whose works were thought during the 19th century to have been painted by Vermeer.

Phyllida Barlow (*1944) tests boundaries with her monumental sculptures in an eccentric yet humorous manner, reflecting on the relationship with our environment through her use of industrial and everyday materials. With impressive installation photos and never-before-seen archival material the publication presents Barlow’s unique oeuvre from her early works until the present day.

Picasso’s study of the old masters forms an impressive focus of his late work. At the beginning of this new interest stood the works series "Les Femmes d’Alger", which was on view in Paris, Munich, Cologne and Hamburg in 1955 and which today is scattered across several continents. The volume presents the series within the context of its reference works by Delacroix and Matisse.

Stirring paintings, colourful picture collages made from countless scraps of paper, moving photo collages – the art of Tammam Azzam (b. 1980 in Damascus) is multi-faceted, political and topical. The publication provides a comprehensive overview of the oeuvre of the Syrian artist and describes his career over the past 20 years.

Philip Grözinger’s art derives from his investigations of future-oriented visions. With his individualistic painterly signature he invites the viewer to join him on a surreal journey through the pictorial traditions of the Pop culture of recent decades. This volume is a retrospective which provides a comprehensive overview of his outstanding oeuvre.

Leif Trenkler (*1960) is regarded as one of the most important protagonists of New Figuration in Germany. He has played an important role in this contemporary movement and has achieved international success. His fascinating painting is created by using new colour constructions, a nuanced technique and unusual compositions employing oil on wood.

In less than two decades, Jacoba van Heemskerck (1876–1923) created a powerful oeuvre comprising paintings, woodcuts, glass works and mosaics. Her expressive subjects, including landscapes, townscapes and harbour scenes, are characterised by luminosity and increasing transparency, by rhythmical compositions of the pictorial space, black contours and an intensive use of colour.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner spent his last years between 1917 and 1938 recovering from a mental breakdown in Davos. The overwhelming impression of the Alps moved him to create colourful, visionary landscapes and paint the daily lives of the peasants. The publication shows vividly the significance of the mountain world as inspiration for Kirchner’s late works.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) and Emil Nolde (1867–1956) are leading figures in the German Expressionist movement. Turning away from Western society and the established norms of bourgeois culture, the artists looked to people, lifestyles and objects from other parts of the world for inspiration, especially Africa and Oceania.