Art

Video documentaries about all art forms

The Story of Welsh Art episode 2

The Story of Welsh Art episode 2

The Story of Welsh Art episode 2: Scrambling up the side of one of Wales’s highest and most rugged mountains, Huw Stephens retraces the steps of Richard Wilson, an 18th-century artist who changed the course of art history. Bringing harmony and beauty to a terrain previously dismissed as ‘God’s rubbish tip’, he transformed the way Wales was seen by the […]

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The Story of Welsh Art episode 1

The Story of Welsh Art episode 1

The Story of Welsh Art episode 1: Huw Stephens explores what has long been a missing piece in the cultural story of Britain and indeed Wales itself – the story of Welsh art. Huw starts his journey on the island of Anglesey where he steps inside a prehistoric burial chamber to witness Welsh art in its earliest form. He sees

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The High Art of the Low Countries episode 2

The High Art of the Low Countries episode 2

The High Art of the Low Countries episode 2: Andrew Graham-Dixon looks at how the seemingly peaceful countries of Holland and Belgium – famous for their tulips and windmills, mussels and chips – were in fact forged in a crucible of conflict and division. He examines how a period of economic boom driven for the first time by a burgeoning

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The High Art of the Low Countries episode 3

The High Art of the Low Countries episode 3

The High Art of the Low Countries episode 3: Andrew Graham-Dixon shows how the Low Countries rose again to become a cultural leader in the modern age, with artists like van Gogh, Mondrian and Magritte. Despite its small and almost insignificant size it produced important forward-thinking artists like van Gogh, Mondrian, Magritte and Delvaux, who changed the face of art

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The High Art of the Low Countries episode 1

The High Art of the Low Countries episode 1

The High Art of the Low Countries episode 1: Andrew Graham-Dixon shows how the art of Renaissance Flanders evolved from the craft of precious tapestries within the Duchy of Burgundy into a leading painting school in its own right. Starting his journey at the magnificent altarpiece of Ghent Cathedral created by the Van Eyck brothers, Andrew explains their groundbreaking innovation

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Art That Made Us episode 8

Art That Made Us episode 8

Art That Made Us episode 8: In the 1950s and 1960s, the generation of artists who recorded the shocks of global war gave way to an explosion of new voices from across the British Isles, reinventing the arts and creating a richer, more diverse culture. Young artists rebelled against the old establishment, kicking against the confines of class, sex, nation

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Art That Made Us episode 7

Art That Made Us episode 7

Art That Made Us episode 7: Art goes to war during the first half of the 20th century: war with the old imperial order, war with convention and war with the very idea of what it means to be human. This is a story of artists grappling with the destruction, fighting back and transforming the culture of the Isles.  

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Art That Made Us episode 6

Art That Made Us episode 6

Art That Made Us episode 6: The 19th century saw a decisive shift in power from the countryside to the cities. With the industrial revolution transforming the British Isles, a divide opened up between the urban and the rural, forcing artists to respond to the upheaval to lives and the landscape. Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson reflects on the inspiration of

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Art That Made Us episode 5

Art That Made Us episode 5

Art That Made Us episode 5: This episode traces the story of Britain during the 18th century, a period that saw an explosion of creativity and a country with enough money, from trade and conquest, to pay for it. But the money had a dark side: sculptor Thomas J Price visits Harewood House to see the elaborate Robert Adam-designed interiors,

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Art That Made Us episode 4

Art That Made Us episode 4

Art That Made Us episode 4: A splintering of politics and religion in the British Isles under the Stuart kings leads to more questioning art, new science and architecture. Architect Amanda Levete climbs the Tulip Stairs in the Queen’s House, Greenwich, and reassesses Inigo Jones’ elegant and innovative design, while portrait artist Tai Shan Schierenberg encounters Van Dyck’s monumental portrait

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