Ad Policy. The Poor Poet, a painting by Carl Spitzweg (1808–1885). (Photo by Leemage / Corbis via Getty Images) Who is Ben Lerner? Readers of his fiction will be able to supply some answers: an ...

When Spitzweg first presented "The Poor Poet" to the critics at Munich’s art club in 1839, they weren’t impressed. It took until two years after he died for the painting to make it into a museum.

When he was asked how Paul Cézanne influenced his work, Picasso declared: “He is the father of us all, a sort of God of painting.” This admiration was shared by Picasso’s coeval Cubist-in-arms, ...