The Artist's Journey

Follow in the footsteps of some of the world’s most famous painters in this fascinating work from the Journeys of Note series.

Some truly remarkable works of art have been inspired by artists spending time away from their typical surroundings.

From epic road trips and arduous treks into remote territories to cultural tours and sojourns in the finest hotels, this book explores 30 influential journeys taken by artistic greats and reveals the repercussions of those travels on the painters’ personal lives and the broader cultural landscape.

Award-winning author Travis Elborough brings each of these trips to life with fascinating insights into the stories behind the creation of some of the world’s most famous paintings, including Henri Matisse’s vivid paintings of Morocco, Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock prints of Mount Fuji in Japan, Marianne North’s paintings of India and David Hockney’s California pool paintings.

Travis Elborough is an author and social commentator, described by The Guardian as ‘one of Britain's finest pop cultural historians’. His books include The Bus We Loved, a history of London’s Routemaster bus; The Long-Player Goodbye, a hymn to vinyl records published as The Vinyl Countdown in the Unites States; Wish You Were Here, a survey of the British beside the seaside and A Walk in the Park, a loving exploration of public parks and green space, hailed as 'a fascinating, informative, revelatory book' by William Boyd.

Atlas of Improbable Places, his collaboration with the cartographer Alan Horsfield, was saluted by Monocle magazine for ‘making the world feel bigger.’

He has also compiled such anthologies as Our History of the 20th Century: As Told in Diaries and Letters to Change the World: From Pankhurst to Orwell.

A regular contributor to international print and broadcast media, he has penned articles on all aspects of travel and culture, from pirates in the Caribbean to donkeys at the British seaside.