The Accidental Masterpiece On the Art of Life and Vice Versa

In his widely acclaimed national bestseller The Accidental Masterpiece, Michael Kimmelman climbs mountains, treks into the desert, and even nearly drowns as he pursues art’s truths. He explains that great artists like Bonnard and Chardin—but also obscure obsessives, paint-by-number enthusiasts, amateur shutterbugs, and collectors of strange odds and ends— can show us how creating, collecting, and even just appreciating art can make living a daily masterpiece.

Michael Kimmelman is chief art critic for the New York Times and a contributor to the New York Review of Books.