Art Lives Series: Joan Miro

With his seemingly naïve, symbolic paintings, Joan Miró formed a new artistic language in the 20th century. Brought up in Barcelona, the painter, graphic artist and sculptor was drawn to Paris and, under the influence of the surrealists, developed his unique style and poetic imagery that unite Catalan folk art and fantastic elements. Robin Lough followed the 85-year-old Miró to theatre rehearsals and went to see him in his studio on Majorca. There he met with an amazingly creative and disciplined artist, whose visionary pictures paved the way for abstract expressionism.

Goya, tiempo y recuerdo de una época

Ladovi furianti

我的镜头

Shot over the course of ten years on both film and video, the film consists of a series of carefully composed tableaux of people and environments. Pedestrians shuffle across a bustling Beijing street, steelworkers linger outside a deserted factory, tourists laugh and scamper across a crowded beach, worshippers kneel to pray in a remote village. With a painterly eye for composition, Wang captures China as he sees it, calling to a temporary halt a land in a constant state of change.

Pensées et visions d'une tête coupée

The theme of death is heavily interwoven in Smolder’s surreal salute to Belgian painter Antoine Wiertz, a Hieronymus Bosch-type artist whose work centered on humans in various stages in torment, as depicted in expansive canvases with gore galore. Smolders has basically taken a standard documentary and chopped it up, using quotes from the long-dead artist, and periodic statements by a historian (Smolders) filling in a few bits of Wiertz’ life.

L'Affaire Caravage

In 2014 a large painting representing Judith Beheading Holofernes was discovered in an attic in Toulouse, France. A controversy ensued immediately about the attribution of the painting's authorship to Caravaggio. The documentary follows a famed art expert in charge of organizing the sale of the painting on behalf of the owners, while specialists debate on its authenticity.

Bob Ross: The Happy Painter

A behind-the-scenes look at the beloved public television personality's journey from humble beginnings to an American pop-culture icon. "The Happy Painter" reveals the public and private sides of Bob Ross through loving accounts from close friends and family, childhood photographs and rare archival footage. Interviewees recount his gentle, mild-mannered demeanor and unwavering dedication to wildlife, and disclose little-known facts about his hair, his fascination with fast cars and more. Film clips feature Bob Ross with mentor William Alexander and the rough-cut of the first "Joy of Painting" episode from 1982. Famous Bob Ross enthusiasts, including talk-show pioneer Phil Donahue, film stars Jane Seymour and Terrence Howard, chef Duff Goldman and country music favorites Brad Paisley and Jerrod Niemann, provide fascinating insights into the man, the artist and his legacy.

Tim's Vermeer

Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.

Mur murs

Venturing from Venice Beach to Watts, Varda looks at the murals of LA as backdrop to and mirror of the city’s many cultures. She casts a curious eye on graffiti and photorealism, roller disco & gang violence, evangelical Christians, Hare Krishnas, artists, angels and ordinary Angelenos.

William Dobson: The Lost Genius of Baroque

Acclaimed British art critic, Waldemar Januszczak, investigates the few known facts about William Dobson and seeks out personal stories he left behind as it follows him through his tragically short career. Among the Dobson fans interviewed in the wonderful film is Earl Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana, who agrees wholeheartedly that William Dobson was the first great British painter.

Ich. Immendorff

Documentary film about the painter and sculptor Jörg Immendorff who ranks among the most important German artists. The filmmakers accompanied Immendorff over a period of two years – until his death in May 2007. The artist had been living for nine years knowing that he was terminally ill with ALS. The film shows how Immendorff continued to work with unabated energy and how he tried not to let himself be restrained by his deteriorating health.

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse

Claude Monet was an avid horticulturist and arguably the most important painter of gardens in the history of art, but he was not alone. Great artists like Van Gogh, Bonnard, Sorolla, Sargent, Pissarro and Matisse all saw the garden as a powerful subject for their art. These great artists, along with many other famous names, feature in an innovative and extensive exhibition from The Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Un été à la Garoupe

La Garoupe, a beach in Antibes, in 1937. For one summer, the painter and photographer Man Ray films his friends Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, Paul Eluard and his wife Nusch, as well as Lee Miller. During these few weeks, love, friendship, poetry, photography and painting are still mixed in the carefree and the creativity specific to the artistic movements of the interwar period.

Michael Palin & the Mystery of Hammershøi

In 2005, Michael Palin set out to unlock the mysteries and find out about the background and life of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. Hammershøi painted around the start of the 20th century and many of his pictures have a distinct coolness and distance about them. Palin, wanting to know of his inspirations and the reason for these mystical pictures, starts his search in Hayward Gallery in London, goes to Amsterdam and finally the painters home town, Copenhagen (Denmark).

Two or Three Things I Know about Edward Hopper

TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT EDWARD HOPPER is an immersive experience in 3D, that takes its viewers on a journey into the world of Hopper, sharpening their senses for some aspects of his unique work.

Renoir: Reviled and Revered

Pierre-Auguste Renoir is known and loved for his impressionist paintings of Paris. These paintings count among the world’s favourites. Renoir, however, grew tired of this style and changed course. This film, based on the collection of 181 Renoirs at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia,– examines the direction he then took and why it provokes such extreme reactions right up to today. Some claim they are repulsed by Renoir’s later works and some claim they are seduced. What may surprise many is that among the many artists who sought Renoir’s new works out and were clearly highly influenced by them were the two giants of the 20th century – Picasso and Matisse.

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo

Never before has the extraordinary life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo been framed in relation to the full spectrum of the historical and cultural influences that shaped her. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FRIDA KAHLO explores the 20th century icon who became an international sensation in the worlds of modern art and radical politics.

Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color

Alma W. Thomas lived a life of firsts: the first Fine Arts graduate of Howard University (1924), the first Black woman to mount a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1972), and the first Black woman to have her paintings exhibited in the White House (2009). Yet she did not receive national attention until she was 80.

沿江而上

At the edge of the Yangtze River, not far from the Three Gorges Dam, young men and women take up employment on a cruise ship, where they confront rising waters and a radically changing China.

Redefining China's Family: Women

10 May 2007 - China's staggering economic growth has overshadowed a more subtle shift in Chinese society. In domestic life, many women are now ignore the advice of their mothers and grandmothers, turning instead to counselling hotlines and, increasingly, divorce.