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Published to accompany an exhibition at Tate Modern, London, 22 May - 12 August 2001 and Musee de l'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 4 October 2001 - 6 January 2002.

Giorgio Morandi, one of the great masters of modern art, was influenced both by Italian painters such as Giotto and Paolo Uccello and French painters such as Chardin, Seurat, and Cézanne. This remarkable retrospective contains a hundred works (oil paintings on canvas, drawings, etchings, and watercolours), brought together by the exhibition's curator, Maria Cristina Bandera. She invites you to explore the major themes of Morandi's oeuvre and to immerse yourself in his world as you savour his calming still lifes, the beauty of his landscapes inspired by the countryside of Emilia-Romagna, and the bouquets of flowers he occasionally gave to friends and acquaintances. His work continues to inspire artists today, including Luc Tuymans, who was invited by the curator to present a number of works that enter into a dialogue with those of the Italian painter.

Throughout his long career, Morandi focused on still lifes and landscapes that captured the simple beauty of light and form. While his contemporaries struggled with the intellectual turmoil and aesthetic experimentation of the twentieth century, Morandi remained faithful to the subjects that fascinated him most: bottles, vases, and jugs, and the view out his studio window in Bologna. This richly illustrated volume brings together more than one hundred of his most important works. Grouped according to technique paintings, watercolors, drawings, and etchings each aspect of his work is given thoughtful consideration by scholars who explore Morandi s genius for composition, his serene palette, and his expertise as a draftsman.