Alex Katz, born in New York in 1927, took up portraiture in 1957, and it has remained his most important theme throughout his career. Until the late 1980s, his works were represented primarily in American collections, but exhibitions in European galleries and museum followed in the ensuing years. Invented Symbols presents the previously unpublished autobiographical notes of Alex Katz in German and English for the first time. The book offers valuable insights into the life and work of an artist who developed a highly characteristic visual language in his portraits and figure paintings and is now regarded as one of America's most noteworthy painters.