What is your favourite masterpiece? Everyone’s got one. Is it the milkmaid of Vermeer, the church of Saint Lawrence in Alkmaar of Saenredam, a drowning Ophelia of Millais or the dust on Duchamp’s Large Glass immortalized on camera by Man Ray? These are just a few examples of masterpieces that have inspired, consoled, troubled or animated the leading artists of today. George Condo, Rachel Whiteread, Wilhelm Sasnal, John Stezaker and seventy-one other international artists provide in In my view: personal reflections on art by today’s leading artists an intimate and personal look at their imaginations, each of them reflecting on an artist who or an artwork that has inspired them or influenced their art practice. The reflections are personal and can be recollections of childhood memories and life-changing moments. But they can also just be captions of pure excitement or joy when encountering great art. The book features artworks from the fifteenth to the mid-twentieth century supplemented by images of work by the selecting contemporary artists. Familiar figures from art history pass in review: Edward Hopper, William Blake, John Chamberlain. However lesser known artists, whose work has moved contemporary figures, have also been selected: Itō Jakuchū, Poul Gernes or Henry Fuseli.  

The unique stories show the profound connections between artists and illustrate the revelations, provocations, challenges or delights that can be found when an artist looks closely at another artist’s work.  

George Condo on Rembrandt van Rijn:

‘Rembrandt is an artist who is so ingrained in my consciousness that it is almost impossible to remember when I first saw his work. Could it have been my father showing me some of his paintings in a book? Or was it my grandfather? Or did I discover them myself? Whatever the case, the light turned on in my head, so to speak, when I saw an exhibition of Rembrandt’s etchings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston when I was a teenager.’

Chuck Close on Johannes Vermeer:

‘Ever since I was a student, my favourite artist has been Johannes Vermeer. I understand, or can intuit, how every painting ever made, from the Lascaux caves to today’s most cutting-edge work, was painted. Information about a painting’s creation is imbedded in the paint itself. (…) All of this is to say that Johannes Vermeer is the only artist whose paintings I cannot readily deconstruct; their physicality and process seem to resist all analytical scrutiny.’