Described by Kenneth Clark as one of the most brilliant books of art criticism that I have ever read´, Art and Illusion is a classic study of image-making. It seeks to answer a simple question: why is there such a thing as style? The question may be simple but there is no easy answer, and Professor Gombrich´s brilliant and wide-ranging exploration of the history and psychology of pictorial representation leads him into many important areas. First published more than forty years ago, Art and Illusion has lost none of its vitality and importance. The problems of representation are fundamental to the history of art, and Art and Illusion remains a crucial text for anyone interested in understanding art. For the sixth edition Professor Gombrich has written a new 12-page preface in which he makes use of the distinction between an image and a sign in order to clarify his intentions in writing the book. ´
