The interpretation of the two most famous and mysterious paintings by the Venetian painter Giorgione: “The Storm” and “The Three Philosophers” is a problem that several generations of researchers have tried to solve. In the book by Salvatore Settis, reprinted many times and published for the first time in Russian, the author critically analyzes existing scientific approaches that reflect key methodological turns and conflicts in the history of art history of the 20th century. Settis carefully works with historical sources that help to form an idea of the political context of the era in which Giorgione and his clients lived, and the circumstances of the public and private life of Venice in the early 16th century, which influenced the artist’s stylistic innovations. Having examined various versions of the interpretation of “The Thunderstorm,” Settis offers his own original solution to the picture, taking into account all the details of this creative “puzzle.” Salvatore Settis is an Italian art historian, archaeologist and philologist, president of the Scientific Council of the Louvre, former head of the Getty Research Institute and the École Normale Supérieure in Pisa.