Over three programmes, art critic Waldemar Januszczak presents a landmark story of the life of Vincent van Gogh. He follows the turbulent road the artist took, physically and mentally, revealing the truth behind iconic works such as Sunflowers, his enduring relationship with his brother Theo, and his suicide. Vincent van Gogh – Part One Now one of […]
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Titian Vecellio – Tim Marlow reveals how the Renaissance movement found a new centre in Venice and examines the life and work of Tiziano Vecellio, known to English-speakers as Titian, who pioneered the use of oils with a radical approach to light, colour and brush strokes. His talent was recognised across Europe and he painted portraits of some
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Treasures of the Louvre – Paris-based writer Andrew Hussey travels through the glorious art and surprising history of an extraordinary French institution to show that the story of the Louvre is the story of France. Treasures of the Louvre – Part 1 As well as exploring the masterpieces of painters such as Veronese, Rubens, David, Chardin, Gericault
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Alastair Sooke unpicks the reasons behind the dazzling revolution that gave birth to classical Greek art, asking how the Greeks got so good so quickly. He travels to the beautiful Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, and to the island of Mozia to see the astonishing charioteer found there in 1979, and marvels at the athletic bodies of the warriors
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Continuing his exploration of the collision of the West and Pacific culture, James Fox explores how, ever since Captain Cook’s voyages 250 years ago, the West has created a myth of Polynesia as paradise and, in doing so, destroyed the riches of indigenous culture. He travels across the Pacific to uncover the sites and masterpieces of pre-contact Polynesian
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John McCarthy examines the art of faith – the art of religions, journeying across the globe in search of great temples, churches and sacred sites. The three hour-long films, presented and narrated by the broadcaster John McCarthy, visit many of the greatest and most significant religious buildings of the world. Each hour-long episode is a high-definition visual experience. Divine in
The Art That Made Mexico: Paradise, Power and Prayers , artist Alinka Echeverria explores the three major forces – nature, power and faith – that have shaped Mexican art, and Mexico itself. Alinka Echeverria reveals the way in which Mexican artists shook off European artistic influence to find a distinctive voice, expressed through landscape painting, and reconnected with pre-Hispanic subject
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The Art of Russia is a series in which art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the incredible story of Russian art – its mystery and magnificence – and until now a story untold on British television. The Art of Russia Part 1: Out of the Forest He explores the origins of the Russian icon from its roots in Byzantium
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Documentary in which Ros Savill, former director and curator at the Wallace Collection, tells the story of some incredible and misunderstood objects – the opulent, intricate, gold-crested and often much-maligned Sevres porcelain of the 18th century. Ros brings us up close to a personal choice of Sevres masterpieces in the Wallace Collection, viewing them in intricate and intimate
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In Civilisations episode 9, Simon Schama begins Civilisations with this premise: that it is in art – the play of the creative imagination – that humanity expresses its most essential self: the power to break the tyranny of the humdrum, the grind of everyday. Art, then, makes life worth living; it is the great window into human potential. And societies
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If David Olusoga’s first film in Civilisations is about the art that followed and reflected early encounters between different cultures, his second explores the artistic reaction to imperialism in the 19th century. David shows the growing ambivalence with which artists reacted to the idea of progress – both intellectual and scientific – that underpinned the imperial mission and followed the
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In Civilisations episode 7, Simon Schama starts his meditation on colour and civilisation with the great Gothic cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres. He then moves to 16th century Venice where masterpieces such as Giovanni Bellini’s San Zaccaria altarpiece and Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne contested the assumption that drawing would always be superior to colouring. As the Baroque took
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