art

Smart Secrets of Great Paintings episode 1 - Gustave Courbet

Smart Secrets of Great Paintings episode 1 – Gustave Courbet

Smart Secrets of Great Paintings episode 1 – Gustave Courbet: Paris shone brightly in the second half of the 19th century, with its fashionable restaurants, and its cabarets and theatres, which provided the spectacle of a carefree society. The industrial revolution produced wealth, and fortunes were amassed and lost. Gustave Courbet’s work is politically involved and provocative. It reveals his […]

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The Story of Welsh Art episode 3

The Story of Welsh Art episode 3

The Story of Welsh Art episode 3: In this final episode, Huw Stephens’s journey begins at the dawn of the 20th century with the artists who broke with tradition and depicted Wales in radical new ways. In Snowdonia, he learns how Augustus John and JD Innes led the way, obsessively painting the landscape with a freedom and vibrancy that still

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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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Britain and the Sea episode 4

Britain and the Sea episode 4

Britain and the Sea episode 4: Having examined the sea as a source of exploration, defence and trade, David Dimbleby explores how it emerged as a source of pleasure, Punch and Judy and sand sculpture. Starting at Gorleston-on-Sea, David explores the creation of a seaside holiday culture that remains uniquely British to this day.     Sailing down the Suffolk

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Britain and the Sea episode 3

Britain and the Sea episode 3

Britain and the Sea episode 3: This third episode traces the crucial importance of the sea to Britain’s trade and to individual livelihoods of coastal communities. Joined on this leg of his epic sail by his son Fred, David follows the trade routes of the west coast of Scotland along the monumental channels that cut through the romantic Highlands and

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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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