Some biographies linger—not because they explain everything, but because they illuminate what can’t be explained. The artist biography is a strange and wonderful form: part history, part mythology, part map of the self. These are a few that stand out to me—books that explore the complications of making art and living life, and the moments when those two things become indistinguishable.
Ascanio Condivi (1553)
Written by a close friend and published during Michelangelo’s lifetime, this biography is reverent and revealing. Condivi gives us an inside view of the artist’s working habits, spiritual beliefs, and difficult temperament. What makes it remarkable is its proximity: this is a portrait shaped not just by observation, but by deep affection and awe. This book makes clear that the myths of great artists can be made in the present.
Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan (2004)
This Pulitzer Prize–winning biography is a sweeping, nuanced look at one of the most enigmatic painters of the 20th century. Willem de Kooning’s life was full of contradictions: immigrant and American icon, charismatic and tormented, devoted partner and self-destructive loner. Stevens and Swan tell the arc of his life and the evolution of his work with incredible depth and care. The resulting biography is as compelling as one of de Kooning’s artworks.
Henry Martin (2018)
Agnes Martin’s life was defined by her discipline, isolation, and pursuit of transcendence through painting. This biography explores her philosophical foundations, her schizophrenia diagnosis, and her commitment to silence and structure. Reading it feels meditative—almost like her canvases were giving word to her story. We learn that what Agnes gave to the world far outweighed what she took from it.
Olivia Laing (2016)
Though not a traditional biography, The Lonely City is one of the most emotionally intelligent portraits of artists I’ve read. Through her own experience of solitude, Laing weaves together the lives of artists like Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Henry Darger, and David Wojnarowicz, and their relationship among place and self and work. It’s about art as survival, intimacy, and witness. This book invites us to appreciate biography more broadly—and to see artists more completely.
Reading artist biographies shows how life becomes art—and how art, in turn, helps us live life a little bit more artfully. Behind every painting, installation, or gesture is a person: full of flaws, questions, brilliance, and longing. Just like the rest of us.
