The Masterpiece — Anna Enquist

One of the finest novelists and poets writing in the Netherlands today, Anna Enquist's first novel took the Dutch and German reading public by storm. The Masterpiece takes place during three days in the life of the painter Johan Steenkamer, and of the women closest to him. Is an artist as self-absorbed as Johan capable of expressing the deepest emotional understanding through his art, or is his seductive energy entirely selfish, a surface gloss.