伟大的作品光凭一次邂逅是无法充分理解的：在一生中反反复复地观赏和思考艺术将会得到丰厚的回报：更加深入的理解和洞察。详细分析一幅油画、一座雕塑或装置艺术品也能获得类似的好处。《现代艺术细节：75件杰作》突出了连鉴赏家都有可能错过的更加精妙之处，阐明了那些匆匆一瞥下几乎看不出来的细枝末节，包括微妙的内部细节和艺术家为了达到特殊效果而采用的技术诀窍。本书还探讨了影响一件艺术品创作的主题和外部与个人因素——无所不包，有全球性的政治事件、开辟新天地的运动，如立体主义、未来主义和原始主义，甚至还有常常具有很大相关性的科学和数学理论。

Great works of art cannot be fully understood in a single encounter: to revisit and reconsider art again and again throughout one’s life is to be richly rewarded with an ever-deepening appreciation and insight. Similar benefits come from analysing a work of painting, sculpture or installation in detail.Modern Art in Detail: 75 Masterpieces spotlights the finer points that even connoisseurs may miss, casting light upon minutiae that a quick glance will almost certainly fail to reveal. These include subtle internal details, and the technical tricks employed by the artist to achieve particular effects. The book also looks at the themes and external and personal factors influencing the creation of an artwork – everything from global political events, to groundbreaking movements such as Cubism, Futurism and Primitivism, and even scientific and mathematical theories, which are often of great relevance.

The book examines 75 works of modern art, from Vincent van Gogh’s The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise(1890), to Paula Rego’s Visions (2015) , deftly charting the shift from the supremacy of artistic technique to the more recent dominance of the idea (or concept) behind the artwork itself.