In a brisk and playful survey that considers art history as both tragedy and farce, Paul Barolsky focuses on the role of Satan in modern art history, the theme of artistic obsession, and the idea of artistic failure. His book is conceived as a contribution to art history, comparative literature, and the history of ideas.

In A Brief History of the Artist from God to Picasso, Paul Barolsky explores the ways in which fiction shapes history and history informs fiction. It is a playful book about artistic obsession, about art history as both tragedy and farce, and about the heroic and the mock-heroic. The book demonstrates that the modern idea of the artist has deep roots in the image of the epic poet, from Homer to Ovid to Dante. Barolsky’s major claim is that the history of the artist is inseparable from historical fiction about the artist and that fiction is essential to the reality of the artist’s imagination.