绘画的作用是什么？本书整合了二战之后的伦敦艺术家们的讨论。这是一个个关于人才，经验和艺术的故事，他们各自发展独特的绘画方法。所有人都深信，即使在新媒体时代，绘画也可以做出新鲜又奇妙的事情。

‘What can painting do?’ This question bound together a diverse community of artists in London after the Second World War. In answering it, many became household names: Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Gillian Ayres, Frank Bowling, Howard Hodgkin and more.

Drawing on decades of interviews, Gayford unpicks the creative threads and maverick personalities of interwoven lives from postwar Soho bohemia to the Swinging Sixties. It is a story of friendships, experiences and artistic concerns shared between talented individuals who each developed their own singular approach to painting. All passionately believed that even in the age of new media, an ancient form could do fresh and marvellous things.