An essential global survey of the most exciting contemporary painters, as selected by the world’s leading art experts, with an introduction by Suzanne Hudson.

Painting is one of the oldest art forms, with roots in prehistoric caves, ancient Roman villas, and Renaissance portraiture. Today, a new generation of artists experiment, innovate, and breathe new life into this enduring medium. From immersive exhibitions with massive wall paintings to quiet, minuscule compositions, Vitamin P4: New Perspectives in Painting brings together 108 artists from 44 countries, showcasing the best contemporary painters around the world.

There is no etymology of charcoal lines. They do not carry history as words do; every line is the first line. But they do possess a grammar of a kind, rhythm, pacing, inflexion points, and like sentences, they are linear. A drawing, though composed of such lines, is not read as text is read. An image is seldom episodic, though it can be arranged in sequence with others; it is seldom narrative, though it might convey drama, character, and feeling. Images address us with immediacy; reading is durational. And perhaps it is these different timescales of revelation that make any translation between the two at once so futile and so fertile.