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When you think of South Sea, you think of paradise. The natural beauties of Oceania's island world, scattered far across the South Pacific and divided into the cutural areas of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, are overwhelming. But besides lonely palm islands, ever-warm lagoons, and colourful coral reefs, there are also more rugged beauties such as the volcanic-islands of Marquesas, wheere beaches are rare.

Costa Rica captivates with tropical rain forest, high mountain ranges, volcanoes, and fertile high valleys with coffee and fruit plantations. The two coasts of the country boast fine white sandy beaches, coral reefs, and palm groves. Of special fascination is the versatile fauna and flora which is protected in twenty-seven natural parks. In 280 photographs, this illustrated book shows the impressive beauty of this green oasis.

Proud towers, pituresque market squares with magnificent town halls, canals and bridges: Flanders owes everything to the sea and trade. With its cities like Bruges, Antwerp, and Ghent, Flanders has been one of the most important centers of Western art and culture since the middle Ages. The traces of flemish masters such as Rubens or Van Eyck are much a part of Flanders as the desire for pleasure and good food. It is no wonder then that the creative Flemings also draw comics, brew 100 different beers, invent chocolates, cook masterfully, and of course make the best French fries.

Chile stretches along the Pacific coast of South America, west of the Andes, and is the longest country in the world from north to south. The contrasting landscape offers the Atacama Desert in the north - the driest area on earth - and rainforests, lake landscapes, and glaciers in the south. Over 400 photographs present this country from north to south with its fascinating world of desert landscapes, volcanoes, glaciers, and a rich flora and fauna.

In South Africa, at the southern tip of the African continent, one finds extreme deserts in the Kalahari at the border to Namibia, subtropical forests in the southeast, but also mountain ranges like the Drakensberg parallel to the Indian Ocean. Beaches, lush vineyards, and rugged cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope mark the diversity of the country. The Kruger National Park is home to large game in the interior. Namibia, located in southwestern Africa, is characterized by the Namib Desert along the Atlantic coast. To the north is the Etosha National Park, whose salt pan attracts numerous wild animals such as rhinos and giraffes. The landscape of Botswana, a landlocked country in South Africa, is desert on the one hand and a huge river delta with seasonal flooding on the other hand, a habitat for lush vegetation and many animals. This volume presents these three states in over 500 pictures. Natural spectacle and animal world could not be more contrasting.

Wide, breathtaking landscapes, crystal-clear, blue lakes, high, snow-covered mountain peaks, but also wild grizzlies, buffalos, mustangs, and rare animal species: this is North America. With nearly 60 national parks, the United States is preserving a living monument to the continent's pristine nature in an effort to make it accessible to everyone. This book presents the most beautiful parks in over 450 photographs. Each has its own character and individual charm. Alaska, high in the northwest of the American continent, boasts spectacular wide expanses and immense geological variety such as the highest mountain of North America, the Denali. Continuing on the northern route from west to east, the high mountain regions of the Rocky Mountains overwhelm their visitors with countless blue glacier lakes and thundering waterfalls. Yellowstone, the oldest national park, is pure magic with dazzlingly colourful thermal springs, erupting geysers, and large herds of bison. Continuing on the southern route from west to east, the striking granitoid formations of Half Dome and El Capitan in the popular Yosemite National Park are impressive sights. Death Valley fascinates with contrasts of hot salt deserts and ice-cold, snowcapped peaks.

A vast mountain range stretching from west to east over seven countries forms a barrier of rock, snow, and ice in the middle of Europe. This illustrated book shows the scenic diversity and beauty of the Alps which has over 100 thirteen-thousand-foot peaks, a rich flora and fauna, places very much worth seeing, and lovingly preserved customs.

The fresco - a painting on fresh plaster - is a technique of wall painting used since antiquity. Frescoes serve a wide variety of purposes: In churches as a Bible in pictures and for the representation of the life of saints or the truths of faith; in town halls they depict the ideals of a city government, in castles and palaces the appreciation of art and the sovereign virtues of the sponsors. This volume is devoted to frescoes and other impressive wall and ceiling paintings from the Romanesque period to the 19th century.

With over 450 works, this volume deals with the most important trends and groups in French painting from the middle of the 19th century to the first years of the 20th century: naturalism, realism, impressionism, postimpressionism, symbolism or the Nabis. This is development is illustrated in the most beautiful paintings by Corot, Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne, Bonnard and many other painters.

This illustrated book shows the fascinating diversity and beauty of Sweden. Sweden, a symbol of Scandinavian idyll, inspires with its falun-red wooden houses surrounded by dense forests, with its quiet bays, long sandy beaches, lighthouses and windmills, colorful boathouses, the glittering sea between archipelagos, the infinite number of lakes, the lonely and wide snow landscapes, dog sleds, reindeer and moose.

Tuscany captivates with its gently rolling hilly landscape, its cypress avenues and pine forests, its magnificent castles, palaces and country villas amidst of blooming vineyards and olive groves. Cities like Pisa, Florence or Siena with outstanding cultural treasures, tiny mountain villages and last but not least la dolce vita make the region one of the most popular in Italy.

Between popular masterpieces and rather little known artists, this book unfolds nine centuries of the history of French painting. It contains more than 450 works showing medieval frescoes, Gothic illuminations, Renaissance portraits, neoclassical or romantic paintings, but also works of academic art. Cabanel or Gérôme have their place here, just like Nicolas Poussin, Boucher, Ingres or Delacroix.

Unique ice formations and vast snow landscapes characterize the regions around the poles. But even far away from these areas, there are huge glaciers; for example, in Argentina, and even in hot African countries you can find fascinating mountain massifs covered by snow and glaciers. With an impressive 460 photos, this volume shows the ice worlds and their inhabitants around the globe. Under severe threat from climate change, they are all the more worthy of protection.

With more than eight million visitors a year, the Louvre is the museum with the most visits in the world. Its extensive collection of paintings reflects the history of European art from the 13th to the early 19th century. With over 400 plates, detail images, and descriptions, this volume provides an overview of the Louvre's collection of paintings.

It is difficult to define Brazil as a country; it is rather the sum of countries with very different characteristics such as the Amazon region with the longest river and the largest rainforest in the world, and Rio de Janeiro, with its legendary carnival and famous beaches. In addition there a natural wonders such as the mighty Iguaçu waterfalls on the border with Argentina and the marshland Pantanal, with its unique variety of plants and animals in the west, as well as the magical desert landscape Sertao in the northeast.

Amedeo Modigliani's favourite and most abiding motif was the human figure. His portraits of women, in particular, convey his sympathetic and highly individual gaze. Although his oeuvre consists mainly of paintings and drawings, he devoted himself exclusively to sculpture from 1909 to 1914. Modigliani enjoyed little success during his lifetime, but gained great popularity and recognition after his death.