Friendship: From Raphael to Bacon

Following the enduring theme of friendship across more than fifty masterpieces, this beautifully curated collection offers an original way to experience the history of art.

Friendship has inspired some of art history’s greatest works, and this collection reveals the remarkable relationships behind their creation. Dozens of works spanning more than two thousand years are brought together, showing how companionship, loyalty, and creative exchange have influenced artists from classical antiquity to the present. 

From Raphael’s The School of Athens and Rubens’s portrait of his own circle of friends to Gauguin and Bernard’s exchanged self-portraits and the celebrated creative partnership of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, the selection uncovers unexpected stories behind familiar images. 

Works by Giotto, Dürer, Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, Klimt, Modersohn-Becker, Magritte, and many others place these relationships within the broader sweep of art history. Brief essays accompany each reproduction, placing the work within its artistic and historical context while illuminating the people and relationships behind its creation. 

• A magnificent collection of exceptional artworks celebrating friendship
• Looks chronologically at the history and cultural context of friendship in art
• High-quality reproductions set alongside concise, introductory texts
• Beautifully designed, this highly attractive book is the perfect gift for a friend

Elegantly produced and thoughtfully assembled, this volume reveals how friendship has shaped not only artists’ lives, but the history of art itself.