Why has such an apparently unpleasant subject such as pain preoccupied artists of every age? Nigel Spivey explores this question in a perceptive and eloquent exposition that ranges from the Christian martyrs to Munch's seminal The Scream and the horrors of the Holocaust. Enduring Creation triggers and explores in depth a host of complicated questions surrounding the motivations of artists and the psychology of our response. Can pain be beautiful? Do we always pity suffering? Is there a link between sainthood and sado-masochism? The result is a brilliantly innovative work of cultural history, and one of those rare books that makes the past come alive by creating a persistent sense that it is of pressing relevance today.