Beginning with a celebration of childhood and ending with praise for the renewed creativity of age, this stunning gift book marries poems that illuminate the journey of life with art from one of the foremost collections in the Western world at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, US. The series of four paintings by Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life, create the framework for the book and introduce sections on childhood, young adulthood, maturity and old age.

As well as reproductions of great paintings by Chagall, Monet and Picasso, the book features poetry by Jorge Luis Borges, William Yeats, Dante Alighieri and Mary Oliver to name but a few.