To celebrate world book day, here's my top 20 books inspired by artworks....
Feb 28, 2022
Top 20 books about art or art inspired by books
Stories about real art:
- The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt (Inspired by the painting The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius)
- The Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracey Chevalier (Inspired by Vermeer’s Painting The girl with a Pearl earring)
- The Di Vinci Code, Dan Brown (Inspired by various works by Leonardo Di Vinci incl Mona Lisa)
- On Chapel Sands, Laura Cummings (Inspired by the painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus)
- Lust for Life, Irving stone (Based on the letters sent by Van Gogh to his brother)
- The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton (Based on Petronella Oortman’s Dollshouse at the Rijksmuseum)
- Girl reading, Katie Ward (inspired by 7 portraits of women reading)
- The Moon and Sixpence, W Somerset Maugham (based loosely on the life of Paul Gaugin)
- Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (features the work of Hans Holbein - portrayals of the key players in the novel)
- The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey (the protagonist becomes obsessed with the portrait of Richard III - artist unknown)
- The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant (Set in turbulent Florence - the main character becomes captivated by the work of Botticelli)
- The Art Forger, BA Shapiro (the main character is hired to create a forgery of After the Bath, Degas)
- Luncheon of the Boating Party, Susan Vreeland (based on Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir)
- The Lonely City, Olivia Laing (set in NYC and featuring works like Nighthawks, Edward Hopper)
- I always loved you, Robin Oliveria (the story of the romance between Mary Cassatt and Edar Degas)
- Rodin’s Lover, Heather Webb (based on the story of an aspiring sculptor who falls in love with Rodin)
- The Agony and the Ecstasy, Irving stone (Inspired by the life of Michaelangelo)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (Portrait by Ivan Albright)
- Headlong, Michael Frayne (about a long-lost painting from Pieter Bruegel “The months”)
- The Domain of Arnheim, Edgar Allen Poe (Inspired by Domain of Arnheim, Magritte)
Stories about fictional art:
- Cats eye, Margaret Atwood (based on the lead characters art)
- To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (based on the lead characters art)
- My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk (based on the miniaturists working in
- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (the examination of the portraits at Pemberley of the family a defining part of the story)
- The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett (Based on a fictional portrait)
- Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier - (the portrait of Caroline de Winter in the White dress has a pivotal role in the story)
- The Horses Mouth, Joyce Carey (About a man who sacrifices everything for his art)
Art inspired by books:
- Ophelia, Millais (Inspired by Hamlet, Shakespeare)
- Mad Tea Party, Dali - (Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll)
- The Lady of Shalott, John William Waterhouse (inspired by The lady of Shalott, Tennyson)
- Don Quixote, Picasso (inspired by Don Quixote, Cervante)
- Myself and My Heroes, David Hockney (Inspired by the writing of Walt Whitman and Mahatma Ghandi)
Want to join my FREE Pen and Watercolour course?
