SECRET LIVES OF GREAT ARTISTS

In the tradition of our best-selling Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents (120,000 copies in print), here are outrageous and uncensored profiles of the world’s greatest artists, complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright bizarre facts.

Consider: • Michelangelo had such repellant body odor that his assistants couldn’t stand working for him. • Pablo Picasso did jail time for ripping off several statues from the Louvre. • Gabriel Dante Rossetti’s favorite pet was a wombat that slept on his dining room table. • Vincent van Gogh sometimes ate paint directly from the tube. • Georgia O’Keeffe liked to paint in the nude. • Salvador Dalí concocted a perfume from dung to attract the attention of his future wife.

With outrageous anecdotes about everyone from Leonardo (accused sodomist) to Caravaggio (convicted murderer) to Edward Hopper (alleged wife beater), Secret Lives of Great Artists is an art history lesson you'll never forget!

ELIZABETH LUNDAY is a journalist specializing in architecture and art. She writes the “Masterpieces” column for mental_floss magazine and lives in Forth Worth, Texas.