"40 illustrations."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-252) and index.

Introduction -- The Red Studio, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) -- Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, a Guitar and Newspaper, 1913, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) -- Black Square, Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) -- Fountain, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) -- The Empty Mask, Rene Magritte (1898-1967) -- New York Movie, Edward Hopper (1882-1967) -- Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) -- Head VI, Francis Bacon (1909-1992) -- Black on Maroon, Mark Rothko (1903-1970) -- Big Electric Chair, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) -- Infinity Mirror Room -- Phalli's Field, Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) -- The Pack, Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) -- Spiral Jetty, Robert Smithson (1938-1973) -- Osiris and Isis, Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) -- Untitled (I shop therefore I am), Barbara Kruger (b. 1945) -- A Book from the Sky, Xu Bing (b. 1955) -- The Messenger, Bill Viola (b. 1951) -- Maman, Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) -- Correspondence, Lee Ufan (b. 1936) -- Untitled, Doris Salcedo (b. 1958)

As artists push further and further beyond their, and our, comfort zones, this book aims to help decipher the bizarre and often intimidating aspects of modern and contemporary art by exploring twenty works of art in terms of seven "keys". History, biography, aesthetics, experience, theory, criticism and the market represent conventional `modes of existence' for every artwork discussed, but in a fascinating variety of ways. Simon Morley shows how twenty well-known but little-understood works of art can serve as useful springboards not only for understanding each other, but also for appreciating works by the same artists, and from the wider world of art in general. Rather than proceeding on the basis of familiar art "movements" or "--Isms", Morley focuses on just twenty individual works of art, from Matisse's The Red Studio to Doris Salcedo's Untitled. Representing a variety of media, styles, subjects and intentions, being the creations of men and women of different periods and places, coming from disparate social and ethnic backgrounds, these works show a rich diversity in modern and contemporary art.