Everything You Know About Art is Wrong [Hardcover]

Art is just a load of fancy paintings hung in a gallery. Or is it? Find out the truth, in the myth-busting book! 
 
Why is theMona Lisareally smiling? Who really invented photography? Which painting was hung upside-down for over a month before anyone noticed? In the intriguing, outrageous, and often provoking world of the visual arts, nothing is quite as it seems—or as many people believe. Whether it’s the notion that all artists are starving young men or that Walt Disney actually designed Mickey Mouse, false ideas persist.Everything You Know About Art Is Wrongsets us straight, revealing the truth about such things as the world’s first instance of photobombing in 1843, the destruction of Vincent van Gogh’sSunflowersduring World War II, the Damien Hirst spot painting that landed on Mars, and so much more.

Whether it’s the notion that all artists are starving young men or that Walt Disney actually designed Mickey Mouse, false ideas about art persist. But this myth-busting book sets us straight! It reveals the truth about everything from the world’s first instance of photobombing in 1843, to the destruction of van Gogh’sSunflowersduring World War II, to the Damien Hirst spot painting that landed on Mars.

 
Matt Brown has been a scientific editor, writer, and event host, working for Reed Elsevier and Nature Publishing Group. He served as the Royal Institution’s quizmaster for three years, and has also put on science quizzes for the Royal Society, the Manchester Science Museum, and the Hunterian Museum. In addition to making contributions to several popular-science books, Matt has written extensively about London. His previous solo books includeLondon Night and DayandEverything You Know About London Is Wrong(both Batsford). He remains Editor-at-Large of Londonist.com.