History is constructed through the continual reinterpretation of artifacts that preserve historical events. But can these artifacts be taken as objective facts? For centuries, artists have offered through their work contrary meanings for both historical and contemporary events. In times or places of crisis, the power of art to depict harsh realities and new ways of understanding history have been particularly pronounced.

Art/Histories looks at history through the lens of artworks from the sixteenth century to the present, including works from Otto Dix, Anselm Kiefer, Käthe Kollwitz, Alice Creischer, Jörg Immendorff, Felix Droese, and many others. Drawing on the world-class collections of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Sabine Breitwieser examines the stories these works tell about the events depicted, as well as the artists’ involvement with them. With nearly three hundred full-color illustrations, the book challenges many of the tools currently used to examine and evaluate history.