Giorgio Morandi's lifelong pursuit of his poetic vision in still-life and landscape paintings as well as engravings and etchings has given him a deeply revered position in the history of modern art.

This volume presents the work of this private and enigmatic twentieth-century Bolognese artist. Influenced by the work of Giotto, as well as Cezanne, the metaphysical painters, and the cubists, Morandi's work defies any label. His still-lifes and landscapes are serene groupings of muted objects, yet Morandi provokes a tension between them which speaks of spacial relationships, negative space, and nuances of light and color.

The text traces Morandi's many influences, discussing the atmosphere of Bologna which affected the artist's work, and analyzing the myth which has formed around his life and personality.