Samuel West
The Private Life of a Masterpiece (2001)
Season 5
Private Life of a Masterpiece is a BBC arts documentary series that tells the stories behind great works of art reaching from the Renaissance to modern art. David by Michelangelo, The Scream by Edvard Munch, The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya, The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn, Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck, ... The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer. For behind the beautiful canvases and sculptures are tales of political revolution, wartime escapes, massive ego clashes, social scandal, financial wrangling and shocking violence. The series reveals the full and fascinating stories behind famous works of art, not just how they came to be created, but also how they influenced others and came to have a life of their own in the modern world.
Released Dec. 8, 2001
Episode 50 min
None+
Genres: Documentary
Keywords: imdb.art-documentary, imdb.female-nudity, imdb.female-frontal-nudity, imdb.female-pubic-hair, imdb.female-rear-nudity
Production Companies: Fulmar TV & Film
Network: BBC Two
Country: United Kingdom
Languages:
English
S5E1 - Eugene Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People
The series that reveals stories behind famous artworks returns, beginning with an examination of Eugene Delacroix 's response to the July revolution of in France. Delacroix's vibrant portrayal of the bare breasted figure of Liberty leading a rabble over a barricade was taken up as a symbol of revolution across the country. Its painter, however, later moaned that the trouble with revolutions was they got in the way of dinner parties.
April 2, 2005, midnight
S5E2 - Johannes Vermeer: The Art of Painting
The series that reveals the stories behind famous artworks continues with an examination of the favourite picture of the artist who painted it - the 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. This sublime symbol-laden interior remained in his possession until his death, despite the family being in dire financial straits. A later admirer was Adolf Hitler , who liked it so much that he bought it.
April 9, 2005, midnight
S5E3 - Paolo Uccello: The Battle of San Romano
An armoured knight in the thick of battle astride his white charger forms the central figure of a dramatic 15th-century masterpiece by Paolo Uccello. The painting, in three panels, depicts scenes from the battle of San Romano fought between Florence and Siena in 1432. Using one-point perspective Uccello achieved one of the greatest portrayals of men in close combat. Coveted through the centuries the panels became the victims of an extraordinary art crime.
April 16, 2005, midnight
S5E4 - Georges Seurat: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
"Bedlam", "scandal", and "hilarity" were some of the words used to describe Georges Seurat's portrayal of Parisians enjoying an outing on the banks of the River Seine. Now it is seen as one of the most popular paintings ever created, and hailed as a masterpiece of pointillism - or divisionism as Seurat preferred to call his technique. But there's even more to it than first meets the eye. Could the woman pictured fishing in fact be angling for something else? And what's the real significance of the woman leading the monkey?
April 23, 2005, midnight
S5E5 - Gustav Klimt: The Kiss
This erotically charged and hugely popular example of Art Nouveau fused with Symbolism has been the subject of intense speculation since its unveiling in 1908. Who are the two lovers in a rapturous embrace? Is the man or woman in control? And, most tantalisingly, could it depict the artist, a man whose sexual appetite was on a par with Casanova's? Germaine Greer, John Malkovich and former Erotic Review editor Rowan Pelling share their thoughts.
April 30, 2005, midnight
Network: BBC Two
Episode Runtime: 50 min.
Season Runtime: 50 min.
Released: Dec. 8, 2001
Last Air Date: Oct. 25, 2010, midnight
Status: Ended
Certification: NR
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