The aesthetics of the sublime and the picturesque fuelled the 'ruin lust' of the 18th century, but in the 19th century ruins also came to represent fears of the decay of civilisation and the destructive effects of industrialisation. In the 20th century these dystopian visions were made shockingly real after two world wars and successive economic crises. For contemporary artists the ruin has also become a way of thinking about art itself, conceived as a fragment of a lost past or a partial hint of time to come. This book accompanies a major exhibition exploring the theme of ruins and ruination in British art from the 17th century to the present day.