The Story of Art

[1] First published in 1950 by Phaidon, the book is widely regarded both as a seminal work of criticism and as one of the most accessible introductions to the visual arts.

[7] Gombrich himself notes in the preface of the book that he intends to use "plain language" and to keep use of "the art historian's conventional terms" to a minimum.

[9] First published by Phaidon Press in 1950 and in its 16th edition as of 2022, The Story of Art has been a global bestseller with more than 8 million copies sold; it has been translated into more than 30 languages.

[11] Upon its release, The Story of Art was noted for its pedagogical potential[8][12] despite Gombrich's intentions of producing a pleasure read for teenagers.

[8] In his discussion of the book in The Burlington Magazine, the artist and writer Wilfrid Blunt noted that The Story of Art reads like a lecture.

[12] Though he believed the lecture-like tone would lead masters to prefer the book rather than students, he declared that The Story of Art "fully deserve[s] a place in any educational library".

[15] With the intention of offsetting the emphasis on white, male, and Western works in Gombrich's globally influential book, the curator and art historian Katy Hessel responded to the lack of diverse representation by creating a book of works by a range of international female artists titled The Story of Art Without Men, published in 2022.