Can you tell me what Frida Kahlo and Taylor Swift have in common? Or what elements share the Pre-Raphaelite artist Millais and the Twilight love triangle? What if I told you that an innocent still life hides some of the most mind-blowing self-portraits in the history of art? Can you believe that some paintings by Caravaggio are the confession of a crime? And that there is a drawing that confirms the relationship between Lorca and Dalí? Or that in Greek mythology there was a tragic heartstopper? And would you have guessed that there is a medieval Tinder profile?

Blanca Guilera describes, with exceptional accuracy and humor, a number of outstanding paintings, so that readers can understand them as never before and observe them with different eyes. What art history books don’t want you to know, published by Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, is a must-have in your reading list.

What is this book about?

Art and gossip are the two words I would use to describe this book. It is like reading a magazine or having a conversation with friends in a museum.

How did you come up with the idea of authoring a book like this?

It was thanks to my partner, who studied editorial management and was the first to see the potential that this book could have. He was sure that the content I use in social media (in video format) could be published as written text, but it seemed far-fetched to me.

One day we brainstormed possible subjects I could write about. I am a very curious person so the list was very long: the history of fashion, music, popular culture, mythology, cinema, to name a few… and we realized that art, particularly paintings and their associated gossip, was a leitmotif that could encompass all these topics.

What did you want to achieve when you drafted this book?

My main goal was to make the reader enjoy it and to bring something that seems elitist, distant and boring closer to young people, because, in the end, the people we see in the paintings are not so different from us and the subjects they deal with are often very present in our lives.

What audience do you want to reach? 

The style is very casual, with expressions aimed at a young audience.

When I was drafting the book, I did not consciously use that style, but it is the way I express myself and communicate. If I had written it differently, it would have seemed artificial and illogical. Although the main target has been young people, I have been incredibly pleased and surprised by the number of older people who have bought the book and who seem to have liked it.

This book is meant to be like a friend with whom you gossip, but instead of being about a famous celebrity, it is about paintings and artists, and in the end, whatever your generation and whatever background you have, everyone loves to get together with their friends to discuss in a casual and relaxed context. It is something that unites us all.

What was the process of drafting the book like?

It was quite lonely. On many occasions I was alone in front of a blank page, but luckily my partner took the role of literary agent and helped me to keep rowing forward, and it was worthwhile. Authoring a book that I feel immensely proud of and seeing how people enjoy something that I have also enjoyed is an indescribable feeling.

How long did it take you and how did you get the publisher to believe in your idea?

It all started at the end of 2022, when we decided to embark on the madness of writing a book, so we started by preparing a cover, a press file, and a chapter to show the tone and the idea of the project.

We started sending emails and writing to editorial houses, but we received no response. At the same time, I was contacted by different publishers with ideas for books that I did not feel comfortable with or that I was not prepared to write, but taking advantage of these opportunities, we tried to share the skeleton of Lo que los libros de Historia del Arte no quieren que sepas, but it was always rejected, it was not what publishers were looking for.

Several months went by until, at the end of last February, we managed to arrange a meeting with Penguin Random House. My literary agent and myself thought that history would repeat itself and they would propose a project which would not be able to convince us, we would react presenting our ideas and we would get another no. However, this time it was different: they liked it. They were enthusiastic about the project, and we could go ahead with total creative freedom.

I was writing every day for 10 months and afterwards we started with the proofs, corrections, cover proposals and layouts, until this book was published on 14 March 2024, something that two years previously had seemed completely impossible.

In the book you tell anecdotes about each painting, where did your inspiration come from? And how was the research process for each chapter?

It may look awkward but the main inspiration came from those gossip magazines of my adolescence and the art history textbook from school; in fact, the layout is a fusion of the two. The research process was the most complicated but also the most entertaining task. I often started the day with a painting that apparently had nothing interesting to offer, but as I unraveled each element and did the research, it transformed into something totally different. The day ended with a chapter full of everything that made that work of art extremely captivating.  

SAVE THE DATE IN YOUR AGENDA FOR  19 SEPTEMBER 2024

The Association of International Spanish Civil Servants and Palabras+, in collaboration with Gemma Capellas Espuny and Jesús Guerrero Buitrago – moderators of the event- will offer the opportunity to discover the best curiosities, anecdotes and symbolisms of the most iconic works of art, guided by the author of the book. At the end of the presentation, attendees will enjoy a selection of tapas by Spanish chef Izam De Santos, accompanied by a selection of wines offered by La Cave de Genève.