Small Stories of Great Artists

Discover the world’s greatest artists, including Frida Kahlo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Vincent van Gogh, and the stories of the real children who knew them. Now, for the first time, Laurence Anholt’s beloved children’s art book series, which has sold millions of copies around the world, has been compiled into one inspirational volume.

Laurence Anholt’s children’s series on great artists, including reproductions of some of the world’s greatest paintings.

It’s been thirty years since Laurence Anholt began his beloved series about great artists and the real children who knew them. Since then, these classic tales of Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, and many other geniuses of Western art have provided a springboard into a lifetime’s love of art, selling millions of copies around the world. The stories have been adapted in many forms including ballet, opera, Braille editions for blind and partially sighted children, and a full-scale stage musical in Korea.

Alongside Anholt’s dazzling watercolor illustrations, this anniversary edition includes dozens of high-quality reproductions of the artists’ work, child-friendly biographies of the artists, and interactive questions for young readers. Each story is closely based on historical events and extensive research. In many cases, Anholt visited the artists’ homes and studios, walking in their footsteps and interviewing their relatives. He was granted private access to Monet’s house in Giverny and became close friends with Sylvette David (now Lydia Corbett), Picasso’s famous Girl with a Ponytail.

In order to make the artists and their worlds accessible to young readers, Anholt employs a unique device in which the events are seen through the eyes of a child protagonist who actually knew the artist. In this way, readers are able to “piggyback” through the story, and artists who might otherwise be inaccessible become humanized. On a subconscious level, the reader absorbs many inspirational themes such as kindness, self-esteem, perseverance, creativity, and courage.

Perhaps it is Anholt’s gentle storytelling or his handcrafted illustrations. Perhaps it is his love for children and passion for his subject. One way or another, a whole generation of readers have found a lifelong love of art through his stories. And now they are passing that precious gift to their own children. The gift of art is golden.

This volume features the following artists and their stories: Van Gogh and the Sunflowers, Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World, Cézanne and the Apple Boy, Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail, The Magical Garden of Claude Monet, Tell Us a Story, Papa Chagall, Degas and the Little Dancer, Leonardo and the Flying Boy.

The author

Born in London in 1959, Laurence Anholt trained as a fine artist, earning a bachelor’s degree with honors from Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall and a master’s degree from the Royal Academy in London. Since then he has created more than 200 books in thirty languages, ranging from baby board books to adult crime. His titles have won numerous awards, including two Nestlé Smarties Gold Awards and the Historical Association Young Book of the Year.

Small Stories of Great ArtistsHardcover, quarter-bound, 20.5 x 25.6 cm, 1.44 kg, 336 pages