10 Coffee Table Books on Art Worth Owning
Not ready to invest in an art collection just yet? Why not try collecting books about art? There are so many delicious options to choose from. They won’t break the bank, they’re gorgeous, and you can enjoy them for years to come. Not to mention, they’re the undisputed rock stars of any bookshelf or coffee table.
To be clear, I’m not trying to cover the history of art here. That list would be endless and frankly exhausting! This is a very curated list of personal favorites, and I’ve left sculpture off the “table” for today, focusing instead on painters and photographers. None of these books are particularly controversial or even racy—they’re just stunning.
I don’t want to overwhelm, so I kept the list to 10 books. That was harder than it sounds, but here’s how I chose what made the list:
- Every book here is one that I find personally inspiring and beautiful. These are my selections, chosen by me alone, and I make no apologies for them.
- Each cover is worth displaying front and center on your coffee table.
- These are books I believe people will actually pick up and page through if they happen to be sitting on said coffee table, and my hope is that you will too.
Martin Parr
Okay, I know I said I selected 10 books, but I couldn’t choose between these two about Martin Parr, so you choose.
Parr, who passed away just last December, chronicled everyday life through his lens. While his images might appear to be mundane, they are actually bittersweet slices of humanity that make us laugh and cringe at the same time.
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Utterly Lazy and Inattentive: Martin Parr: My Words, My Photographs
Rothko
Ditto. Two Rothko books, because one is never enough.
The Color Field Paintings book highlights 50 works from 1949 to 1970, Rothko’s transformative “color period,” while Paintings on Paper spans 40 years of his works on paper. Two very different windows into the same extraordinary mind, and both deserve a permanent spot on your bookshelf.
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Annie Leibovitz: Women
Annie Leibovitz is one the great photographers of our time, and among the top portraitists ever. This two volume collection is a knockout.
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Annie Leibovitz: Women: 2025 Edition
Frida Kahlo: The Complete Paintings
Having just seen Frida: The Making of an Icon, an exhibit about Kahlo and her influence on art and culture, I had to include a book about her. This book is an investment, but it includes all of Kahlo’s 152 paintings plus photos, diary pages, and more.
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Hokusai
Japanese artwork is endlessly fascinating for its color, detail, and depiction of the culture. In particular, I love the work of Katshusika Hokusai who painted The Great Wave, now one of the most reproduced prints of all time. This compendium is full of luscious color and storytelling.
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Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly In League With The Night
Three years ago I saw Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly in League with the Night at the Tate Modern in London, and the exhibit made a huge impression on me. The people she paints do not exist other than in her imagination, and yet they feel so real and so dignified. And her brushwork and color palette are just as remarkable as her images. This beautiful book helps to show how her work fits into a wider history of portraiture.
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Pictures by David Hockney
As a fan of Hockney, I was excited to see this 1979 vintage book for sale. With more than 300 illustrations of his work and a little bit of age on the page, this is a collector’s item.
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Lucian Freud: Revised and Expanded Edition
Considered one of the most important painters of his time, Freud’s ability to probe emotional depth in his work is often haunting. Best known for his portraits, this book also includes many of his paintings of plants and interiors which I find especially intriguing.
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While much of Turrell’s work is best understood by experiencing it, this retrospective is hard to resist. The cover alone will pull you in, and the 250 illustrations inside, spanning his early days through his most recent and innovative explorations with light, will make you grateful you opened it.
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Beautiful art books like these are worthy of collecting, and any excuse to learn more about art and the artists behind it is always welcome. To help get you started, here are our go-to sources for finding big, luscious art books.
The publishers themselves are a great place to begin—Rizzoli, Phaidon, Assouline, and Taschen all have websites and shops worth bookmarking. Their selections are vast and the rabbit hole is very real.
Barnes & Noble is a classic for good reason, and Amazon remains the reliable standby for tracking down just about anything.
Remember your museum bookstores. If you visit an exhibit you love, you can walk out with a book, but even on an ordinary visit, museum shops are consistently one of the best-curated sources for art books around.
And finally, do not overlook used and rare booksellers. Some of the best finds come from here. Here are a few of our favorites and there are plenty more worth exploring online:
Happy reading!