As a European child of the 1950s, his relationship to painting is inevitably structured by television, cinema and by the lingering effects ofWorldWar II; more recent historical preoccupations have included the dramatic turn of world events post-9/11. Luc Tuymans is one of todays most widely admired painters, an heir to the great tradition of Northern European painting and an enduring influence on younger and emerging artists. Published in conjunction with the artists first full-scale American survey, this is without question the authoritative publication on Tuymans. Tuymans combines a muted palette with deteriorated surface effect and a singular use of cropping, close-up and sequencing perfect devices with which to undertake his investigation of the pathological, the banal and the conspiratorial. It features approximately 80 key works from 1985 to the present, and is accompanied by essays analysing the painters main concerns, with particular attention paid to his working process and. 2009.