David Sylvester here muses on key artists of the twentieth century and their nineteenth-century forebears. In the process, he offers profound insights into their practice of art. Focusing on the spectator's instinctive emotional and physical response to paintings by such artists as Picasso, Matisse, de Kooning, Newman, and Warhol, Sylvester brings an inspiring sense of the relevance and importance of art to life. Added to this updated edition are essays on Pollock, Twombly, and Serra, among others.