In this stunning monograph, the internationally acclaimed Belgian painter Luc Tuymans opens up and reveals, in the form of Polaroids, film stills and other source documents, what has up until now been a largely hidden part of his artistic practice--thereby making it possible to chart both the subjects that fascinate him and his rather idiosyncratic working processes. On the one hand, Tuymans' methods are influenced by photographic techniques. The artist would, however, immediately deny this, claiming that the more than 1,000 Polaroids he has used as the basis for his paintings are not photographs--for the emulsion and the chemical formation of the image behave very differently in each. On the other hand, Tuymans' paintings are imbued with cinematic techniques such as the close-up, slow motion, montage and animation. He draws inspiration from cinematic techniques to load the painted image with topicality and pertinence. This volume, whose reproductions were extensively edited by the artist himself, unravels the anatomy of Tuymans' treatment of images. It is an essential addition to any contemporary art library. Tuymans is represented in New York by David Zwirner gallery.