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.
Explores art history and imaginative literature to show how fiction and history inform each other. Traces the modern idea of the artist to the epic tradition from Homer and Ovid to Dante, leading to Michelangelo. Examines how Vasari shaped Balzac's idea of the artist, and Balzac influenced Picasso's.
