Art History in Movies
Best Films to Teach Introduction to Art History>> Renaissance through Modern Art
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- StarsMassimo MarinoniPeter GuinnessRoss KingFrom a small Italian community in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family would rise to rule Europe in many ways. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power. They would also ignite the most important cultural and artistic revolution in Western history--the European Renaissance. But the forces of change the Medici helped unleash would one day topple their ordered world.
- StarsPhilippe LeroyGiulio BosettiGiorgio PiazzaMiniseries dramatizing the life of the Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsCharlton HestonRex HarrisonDiane CilentoThe biographical story of Michelangelo's troubles while painting the Sistine Chapel at the urging of Pope Julius II.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsLeonard WhitingOlivia HusseyJohn McEneryWhen two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsGwyneth PaltrowJoseph FiennesGeoffrey RushThe world's greatest ever playwright, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
- StarsSimon SchamaAllan CordunerPaul PopplewellFocusing on eight iconic works of art, Power of Art reveals the history of visual imagination through the ages.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- As the strict classical disciplines of the eighteenth century began to fade, two very different movements came to prominence: from Constable and Turner influenced by nature, through to the stirring works of Goya and Gericault. This episode explores the genius of works such as The Third of May and The Haywain.
- 20131h 30mNot Rated8.1 (69)72MetascoreDirectorKerry CandaeleDocumentary follows the impact of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on people's lives around the world.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsEd HarrisDiane KrugerMatthew GoodeA fictionalized account of the last year of Beethoven's life.
- DirectorPaul CoxStarsJohn HurtMarika RiveraGabriella TrsekThis documentary, on the life of artist Vincent Van Gogh, is told through his letters to his brother Theo, from 1872 until his tragic death. We gain first hand insight into the man, his motivations, and his humanity.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliGeorge CukorStarsKirk DouglasAnthony QuinnJames DonaldThe life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
- DirectorSteve CondieStarsPep BruscaAnna Coll MillerPep CortésSimon sketches how Pablo Picasso, the Andalusian (south Spanish) hedonistic king of Paris' bohemian painting scene, who for decades deliberately created pioneering modern works, far from the classical traditions of realistic resemblance (in favor of cubism) and themes serving grandeur or devotion, nor aiming at beauty, while remarkably oblivious of contemporary political context, came to paint Guernica, his giant 1937 evocation of the horror of war in the German Luftwafe (airforce) total destruction of the Basque village of that name. Since Picasso was thematically inspired by his compatriot Goya's nightmarish war images, he visited Spain again in 1934, picking up the motives bull, horse and light-bearer, all to stay with him, and since general Franco started in 1936 a civil war, in which the right-wing Catholic country-based reactionaries, massively aided by Hitler's Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy which sent 40,000 troops, bitterly fought modernist urban Marxists' elected republican government, at all cost, the personal height of horror being the bombing of Spain's main museum, the Prado palace in Madrid, after which Picasso accepted its largely honorary directorship, while his turbulent love-life intensified his anxiety.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
- DirectorJan KounenStarsAnna MouglalisMads MikkelsenElena MorozovaParis 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The revolutionary dissonances of Igor's work parallel Coco's radical ideas. She wants to democratize women's fashion; he wants to redefine musical taste. Coco attends the scandalous first performance of The Rite in a chic white dress. The music and ballet are criticized as too modern, too foreign. Coco is moved but Igor is inconsolable. Paris 1920, Coco is newly wealthy and successful but grief-stricken after Boy's death in a car crash. Igor, following the Russian Revolution is now a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris. Coco is introduced to Igor by Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. The attraction between them is instant and electric. Coco invites Igor along with his wife - now sick with consumption - together with his four children and a menagerie of birds to stay at her new villa, Bel Respiro, in Garches.
- DirectorEd HarrisStarsEd HarrisMarcia Gay HardenRobert KnottA film about the life and career of the American painter, Jackson Pollock.
- 1985– 4hTV-147.8 (423)TV Episode86MetascoreDirectorRic BurnsStarsLaurie AndersonIrving BlumDeVeren BookwalterRic Burns unearths rarely seen footage and offers keen observations on the life and artistic influence of Andy Warhol.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsRobert IndianaThis art experiment by Andy Warhol captures the simple act of a man eating mushrooms. This one-man show starring Robert Indiana presents the actor slowly eating some mushrooms, having an enjoyable time not only with the food but also with a friendly cat that from time to time comes to see what the man is doing.
- DirectorJohn PalmerAndy WarholStarsJonas MekasAndy WarholA single shot of the Empire State Building from early evening until nearly 3 am the next day.
- DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsJeffrey WrightMichael WincottBenicio Del ToroThe brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.
- DirectorDavid Notman-WattIn the Amazon over 45-million hectares of jungle, an area the size of California, have now been demarcated and legalized as protected areas for local indigenous communities thanks to a government initiative. In this film we travel deep into the rainforest of Brazil to see how this affects indigenous communities. Broadcast as part of the 'Earth Report' series
- DirectorThomas RiedelsheimerStarsAndy GoldsworthyAnna GoldsworthyHolly GoldsworthyPortrait of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose specialty is ephemeral sculptures made from elements of nature.
- DirectorAlison ChernickStarsMatthew BarneyBjörkHow does artist Matthew Barney use 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly, a factory whaling vessel and traditional Japanese rituals to create his latest art project? Barney plowed the waters off the coast of Nagasaki to film his massive endeavor, Drawing Restraint 9. The documentary Matthew Barney: No Restraint journeys to Japan with Barney and his collaborator Bjork, as the visual artist creates a "narrative sculpture" telling a fantastical love story of two characters that transform from land mammals into whales.
- DirectorMichael BlackwoodStarsMatthew BarneyMichael KimmelmanThe Cremaster Cycle: A Conversation with Matthew Barney follows the artist and New York Times art critic, Michael Kimmelman as they discuss his mythic display at the Guggenheim Museum. While guiding the camera through his sculptures and films, Barney tells Kimmelman about his process, vision and intentions when creating the "Cremaster Cycle". The sculptures, constructed from the artist's signature materials, including plastic, metal, and Vaseline, are three-dimensional incarnations of characters and settings seen in Barney's films. They exist independently but embody the same content, now expressed in space rather than time.
- DirectorChris MaybachStarsRichard TuttleConnie ButlerRoy DowellRichard Tuttle is an unconventional artist. Many of Tuttle's works are small pieces made of unusual materials, such as wire, or string, and many are both sculptures and paintings. Utilizing a wide variety of materials and possessing a unique sensibility, Tuttle produces works which confound art critics and museumgoers. Richard Tuttle: Never Not an Artist explores Tuttle's work and critical response to it. The film examines Tuttle's art and its impact in several locations: his home in New Mexico, in New York with collectors, and in Miami Beach, where Tuttle was chosen to create a rather large piece of public art.
- DirectorJulie TaymorStarsSalma HayekAlfred MolinaGeoffrey RushA biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsNatalie PortmanMila KunisVincent CasselNina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.
- DirectorSimon CurtisStarsHelen MirrenRyan ReynoldsDaniel BrühlMaria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsGeir WestbyGro FraasKerstii AllumThis biopic of Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch focuses on the influences that shaped his art, his devastating affair with a married woman that will haunt him for the rest of his life
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAnatoliy SolonitsynIvan LapikovNikolay GrinkoThe life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.
- DirectorEdo BertoglioStarsJean Michel BasquiatJohn LurieRichard WeigandAfter being released from the hospital, the artist Jean Michel Basquiat wanders around Manhattan trying to sell art to make money and find a place to stay.
- DirectorLisa Immordino VreelandStarsPeggy GuggenheimJacqueline Bograd WeldFrancine ProseA portrait of a patron of the arts extraordinaire who transformed a modest fortune and impeccable taste into one of the premiere collections of twentieth century art.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsColin FarrellAnthony HopkinsRosario DawsonAlexander, the King of Macedonia and one of the greatest army leaders in the history of warfare, conquers much of the known world.
- DirectorJohn HamburgStarsBen StillerJennifer AnistonDebra MessingA buttoned-up newlywed finds his strictly organized life descend into chaos when he falls in love with an old classmate.
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsMax MinghellaSophia MylesJohn MalkovichStarting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydAfter a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsGary OldmanWinona RyderAnthony HopkinsThe centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsSarah WynterVincent PerezJonathan PryceThis movie is a biopic of Alma Mahler, the wife of composer Gustav Mahler (as well as Walter Gropius and Franz Werfel), and the mistress of Oskar Kokoschka.
- DirectorBruno NuyttenStarsIsabelle AdjaniGérard DepardieuMadeleine RobinsonCamille Claude impresses already-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. He hires her as an assistant, but soon Camille begins to sculpt for herself and she also becomes his mistress. But after a while, she would like to get out of his shadow.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsJulianne MooreClive OwenChiwetel EjioforIn 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsTom HanksAudrey TautouJean RenoA murder inside the Louvre, and clues in Da Vinci paintings, lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years, which could shake the foundations of Christianity.
- DirectorFrank PiersonStarsJames WoodsAnn MarinCraig T. NelsonA Cincinnati museum director goes on trial in 1990 for exhibiting sadomasochistic photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsKate HudsonNaomi WattsStockard ChanningFrench vs. American social customs and behaviors are observed in a story about an American visiting her sister and French brother-in-law and niece in Paris.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsVal KilmerMeg RyanKyle MacLachlanThe story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band The Doors and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison, from his days as a UCLA film student in Los Angeles, to his untimely death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsAshley JuddTommy Lee JonesBruce GreenwoodA woman framed for her husband's murder suspects he is still alive; as she has already been tried for the crime, she can't be re-prosecuted if she finds and kills him.
- DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsAnthony HigginsJanet SuzmanAnne-Louise LambertA young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaIshirô HondaStarsAkira TeraoMitsuko BaishôToshie NegishiA collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
- DirectorShekhar KapurStarsCate BlanchettLiz GilesRod CulbertsonThe early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.
- DirectorJon AmielStarsSean ConneryCatherine Zeta-JonesVing RhamesAn insurance agent is sent by her employer to track down and help capture an art thief.
- DirectorSteven ShainbergStarsNicole KidmanRobert Downey Jr.Ty BurrellTurning her back on her wealthy, established family, Diane Arbus falls in love with Lionel Sweeney, an enigmatic mentor who introduces Arbus to the marginalized people who help her become one of the most revered photographers of the twentieth century.
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsSteve BuscemiThora BirchScarlett JohanssonTwo eccentric best friends graduate high school and respond to a man's romance-seeking newspaper ad as a gag, only to find their lives becoming increasingly complicated.
- DirectorPeter WebberStarsScarlett JohanssonColin FirthTom WilkinsonA young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsNick NolteRalph FiennesNutsa KukhianidzeAn aging gambler on a losing streak attempts to rob a casino in Monte Carlo. But someone's already tipped off the cops before he even makes a move.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsRussell CroweAbbie CornishAlbert FinneyA British investment broker inherits his uncle's chateau and vineyard in Provence, where he spent much of his childhood. He discovers a new laid-back lifestyle as he tries to renovate the estate to be sold.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsFrancisco RabalJose CoronadoDafne FernándezFrancisco Goya (1746-1828), deaf and ill, lives the last years of his life in voluntary exile in Bordeaux, a Liberal protesting the oppressive rule of Ferdinand VII. He's living with his much younger wife Leocadia and their daughter Rosario. He continues to paint at night, and in flashbacks stirred by conversations with his daughter, by awful headaches, and by the befuddlement of age, he relives key times in his life, particularly his relationship with the Duchess of Alba, his discovery of how he wanted to paint (insight provided by Velázquez's work), and his lifelong celebration of the imagination. Throughout, his reveries become tableaux of his paintings.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJavier BardemNatalie PortmanStellan SkarsgårdPainter Francisco Goya faces a scandal involving his muse, who is labeled a heretic by a monk.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsAlec GuinnessKay WalshRenee HoustonAn ill-behaved, lovably scruffy painter, Gulley Jimson, searches for a perfect canvas, determined to let nothing come between himself and the realization of his exalted vision.
- DirectorJohn W. WalterStarsJoseph IalacciRichard FeigenFrances BeattyInterviews with Christo, Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, Judith Malina, James Rosenquist and others help illuminate the life and work of Warhol contemporary Ray Johnson.
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsJason PatricIrène JacobThomas LockyerHarry Donovan is an art forger who paints a fake Rembrandt picture for $500,000. Marieke, the woman he meets in Paris and gets into bed with, turns out to be the art expert whom Harry's clients are using to check the counterfeit picture he painted.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordSean ConneryAlison DoodyIn 1938, after his father goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, Indiana Jones finds himself up against the Nazis again to stop them from obtaining its powers.
- DirectorMary HarronStarsLili TaylorJared HarrisMartha PlimptonThe story of Valerie Solanas, a '60s radical who preached misandry in her "Scum" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but after he repeatedly ignored her, she shot him.
- DirectorRaúl RuizStarsJohn MalkovichVeronica FerresStephen DillaneA portrait of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, whose lavish, sexual paintings came to symbolize the art nouveau style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKirsten DunstJason SchwartzmanRip TornThe retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 14 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.
- DirectorMenno MeyjesStarsJohn CusackNoah TaylorLeelee SobieskiA film studying the depiction of a friendship between an art dealer named Rothman and his student, Adolf Hitler.
- DirectorMick DavisStarsAndy GarciaElsa ZylbersteinOmid DjaliliThe story of Amedeo Modigliani's bitter rivalry with Pablo Picasso, and his tragic romance with Jeanne Hebuterne.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanEwan McGregorJohn LeguizamoA poor Bohemian poet in 1890s Paris falls for a beautiful courtesan and nightclub star coveted by a jealous duke.
- DirectorNathaniel KahnStarsEdmund BaconEdwina Pattison DanielsBalkrishna DoshiDirector Nathaniel Kahn searches to understand his father, noted architect Louis Kahn, who died bankrupt and alone in 1974.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisBrenda FrickerAlison WhelanChristy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPablo PicassoHenri-Georges ClouzotClaude RenoirA filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.
- DirectorWoody AllenFrancis Ford CoppolaMartin ScorseseStarsWoody AllenNick NolteRosanna ArquetteA middle-aged artist obsessed with his pretty young assistant, a precocious 12-year-old living in a hotel, and a neurotic lawyer with a possessive mother make up three Gotham tales.
- DirectorMichael Lindsay-HoggStarsJohn MalkovichAndie MacDowellLolita DavidovichThis story is about a ne'er-do-well and his girlfriend as they search for a thief.
- DirectorAndrew DavisStarsMichael DouglasGwyneth PaltrowViggo MortensenA wealthy Wall Street speculator discovers that his wife has a lover. He investigates him and uses the carrot and stick to make him murder his wife. Planned to detail, it seems like a perfect murder.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordKaren AllenPaul FreemanIn 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsCharles LaughtonGertrude LawrenceElsa LanchesterThe respected painter takes to drink and faces down scandal after his wife dies.
- 1985– 1h 23mPG-137.1 (1.6K)TV Episode71MetascoreDirectorSydney PollackStarsFrank GehrySydney PollackJulian SchnabelA look at the life and work of the renown architect.
- DirectorNeil LaButeStarsPaul RuddRachel WeiszGretchen MolA quiet, unassuming man begins to change in a major way as a result of meeting a new, art-student girlfriend, and his friends are unsettled by the transformation.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsWill SmithStockard ChanningDonald SutherlandAn affluent New York City couple finds their lives touched, intruded upon, and compelled by a mysterious young black man who is never quite who he says he is.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIngrid BergmanGregory PeckMichael ChekhovA psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.
- DirectorPaul DavidsStarsAbbott AlexanderLisa WaltzLou WagnerA magic potion returns artist Vincent Van Gogh back to life and lands him in the center of the Rose Bowl Parade in this oddball comedy. Of course, no one believes who he is and he is startled to discover his popularity after the passage of time. This sets him off on a crusade to steal his paintings back from collectors and sets a detective on his trail. Along the way, he makes friends with an ambulance chasing attorney and a young artist, who gradually begin to believe his claims of identity.
- DirectorDario ArgentoStarsAsia ArgentoThomas KretschmannMarco LeonardiA young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man's obsession.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsAnthony HopkinsNatascha McElhoneJulianne MooreThe passionate Merchant Ivory drama tells the story of Françoise Gilot (Natascha McElhone), the only lover of Pablo Picasso (Sir Anthony Hopkins) who was strong enough to withstand his ferocious cruelty, and move on with her life.
- DirectorD.J. CarusoStarsAngelina JolieEthan HawkeKiefer SutherlandAn FBI profiler is called in by French Canadian police to catch a serial killer who takes on the identity of each new victim.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanMichael CrichtonStarsAntonio BanderasDiane VenoraDennis StorhøiA man, having fallen in love with the wrong woman, is sent by the sultan himself on a diplomatic mission to a distant land as an ambassador. Stopping at a Viking village port to restock on supplies, he finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a quest to banish a mysterious threat in a distant Viking land.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsPierce BrosnanRene RussoDenis LearyA very rich and successful playboy amuses himself by stealing artwork, but may have met his match in a seductive detective.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerJamie Lee CurtisTom ArnoldA fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used-car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsTim RothPaul RhysAdrian BrineThe familiar tragic story of Vincent van Gogh is broadened by focusing as well on his brother Theodore, who helped support Vincent. The movie also provides a nice view of the locations which Vincent painted.
- DirectorVincent WardStarsRobin WilliamsCuba Gooding Jr.Annabella SciorraChris Nielsen dies in an accident, and enters Heaven. But when he discovers that his beloved wife Annie has killed herself out of grief over the loss, he embarks on an afterlife adventure to reunite with her.
- DirectorHenning CarlsenStarsDonald SutherlandMax von SydowJean YanneThis biographical film, based on the life of French artist Paul Gauguin (Donald Sutherland), follows the painter as he returns to Paris after a long stay in Tahiti and must confront his wife, his children, and his former lover.