I was inspired by the movie Xanadu in which Olivia Newton-John is a Greek muse incarnated as a girl named Kira who inspires others to achieve. I got to thinking about books that were inspired by great works of art or by the lives of artists and created this list. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Various Artists

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline, inspired by Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth. This portrait of an unknown Midwestern farm girl has inspired many people. This is the first attempt to give a voice to the iconic figure, as far as I know.  Mystery Woman, NYT review.

 

 

 

 

In Sunlight Or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by Edward Hopper Lawrence Block et al. Block assembled a tour de force of bestselling authors for this anthology, including Megan Abbott and Michael Connelly. Each story is prefaced by a copy of the Hopper artwork that inspired it.

 

 

 

 

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. Novel about Frank Lloyd Wright and his relationship with Mamah Cheney, starting from their first meeting in Oak Park, Illinois. And, Under the Wide and Starry Sky, also by Nancy Horan, chronicles the love affair of Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

 

 

 

Camille Claudel

Rodin's Lover: a novel by Heather Webb, the author of Becoming Josephine and one of the contributors to Fall of Poppies: stories of love and the Great War.

Une Femme  and Le sourire de Sarah Bernhardt by Anne Delbée.  These two works are in French. However, Une Femme has been translated as Camille Claudel: a biography by translator Carol Cosman, and here's another biography about her. Une Femme is a great account of this 19th century sculptor and her 15-year liaison with Auguste Rodin.

 

 

 

You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin by Rachel Corbett (Winter 2017 staff pick!). This novel details Rodin's influence on Rilke, inspiring him to write Letters to a Young Poet, amd the incredible friendship they developed.

 

 

 

 

 

Dmitri Shostakovich

The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes. The Noise of Time borrows its title from Osip Mandelstam's memoirs and deftly maneuvers between portrait of a musical genius and portrait of a guy smoking a cigarette. Review in Opera News.

 

 

 

 

 

Symphony for the city of the dead : Dmitri Shostakovich and the siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson. Quite a departure from his spectacular YA novel Feed, this nonfiction work examines one of the most grim periods in Russian history.