If you truly love a book or a painting or a song, it’s natural enough, every so often, to wonder what the home of the person who created it might look like. Does their extraordinary creativity extend to the places they put their feet up? What kind of art do they hang on their own walls? Does their living environment look like an extension of their work, or does it show another side of them that you wouldn’t expect?

Now, a new book by Sam Lubell called Life Meets Art: Inside the Homes of the World’s Most Creative People, gives you an answer to just that question. Or 250 answers to be exact.

Lubell’s tome gathers together images of the homes of 250 of history’s most highly regarded artists, offering the chance to take a peek into the grand black-and-white tiled grand room of Peter Paul Rubens, peruse the bookshelves of Victor Hugo, or drink in the delightfully whimsical hand-painted walls of Jean Cocteau.

While travel is on hold for now, here is a sample of some of the stunning photographs that you can view from the comfort of your own home, to stoke your inspiration or just slake your curiousity.

Life Meets Art: Inside the Homes of the World’s Most Creative People is available from Phaidon.

Peter Paul Rubens

Rubenshuis, Antwerp, Belgium. Picture: Courtesy of Rubenshuis. Courtesy of Phaidon.

Eileen Gray

Villa E-1027, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. Picture: Manuel Bougot. Courtesy of Phaidon.

Jean Cocteau

Villa Santo Sospir, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France. Picture: Marina Melia, Courtesy of Villa Santo Sospir © DACS/Comité Cocteau, Paris 2020. Courtesy of Phaidon.

Otto Wagner

Otto Wagner Villa I, Vienna, Austria. Picture: Nikolaus Neureiter. Courtesy of Phaidon.

Victor Hugo

Maison Victor Hugo, Paris, France. Picture: Pierre Antoine, Courtesy of Maisons Victor Hugo. Courtesy of Phaidon.