Lucian Freud: Portraits

Michael Palin's Quest for Artemisia

December 2015 •English

Michael Palin discovers the story of 17th-century Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi. He unearths not only her paintings, but a complex and difficult life.

Thoughts and Visions of a Severed Head

January 1991 •French

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.

Bosch: The Garden of Dreams

June 2016 •Spanish

2016 marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Hieronymus Bosch. It is almost the only information about the artist of The Garden of Earthly Delights that we can put a precise date to. Bosch, the garden of dreams is a film about his most important painting and one of the most iconic paintings in the world: The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Una vuelta a Mallorca en camello

January 2013 •English

The real story about the camel ride around Mallorca, that journalist Miguel Vidal and painter Gustavo Peñalver did in 1964. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. This is one of them.

Sketches (1990-2003)

January 2003 •Spanish

Apuntes is a sort of prologue to ‘The Quince Tree Sun’. With images shot by Erice in the Summer of 1990, as he was preparing such film, observing how the painter Antonio López worked. Erice wrote and selected the texts which illustrate them. Apuntes is split in 6 parts to show López’s 6 projects.

De Toorts

Invalid date •Dutch

Documentary about the Dutch painter Caspar van Wittel.

Woodland Spirits

January 2007 •English

In this documentary short, two men paddle a canoe across a remote part of northern Lake Superior. Each stroke brings them closer to the culmination of an artistic and spiritual journey, one that begins with ancient rock paintings from their Anishinaabe ancestors.

Gauguin a Tahiti - Il Paradiso Perduto

March 2019 •Italian

Waiting for Hockney

January 2008 •English

A young working class Baltimore man spends 10 years on a single portrait, believing it is his means to fame and fortune. But he also believes that only one man can lead him there---the famous artist David Hockney. What happens when you finally meet the god of your own making?

The Greatest Painters of the World: Van Gogh

December 2016 •French

Fragonard: Lessons in Love

October 2015 •French

China's Van Goghs

December 2016 •Chinese

An intimate portrait of a peasant-turned oil painter transitioning from making copies of iconic Western paintings to creating his own authentic works of art.

Clive Barker: The Man Behind the Myth

February 2009 •English

Short interview with Clive Barker about Midnight Meat Train, his artistic process, and his paintings. Includes a tour of his painting studio.

Autography

December 2004 •Portuguese

A documentary that portrays not only the poet and painter Mario Cesariny but as well his life, his journey and his individuality.

Where the Universe Sings: The Spiritual Journey of Lawren Harris

January 2017 •English

Admirers of Harris' paintings discuss his place in the pantheon of Canadian artists.

Chuck Close

January 2007 •English

Chuck Close, an astounding portrait of one of the world's leading contemporary painters, was one of two parting gifts (her second is a film on Louise Bourgeois) from Marion Cajori, a filmmaker who died recently, and before her time. With editing completed by filmmaker Ken Kobland, Chuck Close lives the life and work of a man who has reinvented portraiture. Close photographs his subjects, blows up the image to gigantic proportions, divides it into a detailed grid and then uses a complex set of colors and patterning to reconstruct each face.

Maliar doktora smrti

January 2013 •Slovak

Vera Klement: Blunt Edge

September 2010 •English

As her 80th birthday is approaching, Vera Klement, an oil painter in Chicago, adamantly starts yet another new figure painting: a portrait of an artist under oppression, an homage to Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovitch.

The Rembrandt Century: How Art Became Big Business

January 2022 •German

In the 17th century, the Netherlands experienced an unprecedented artistic explosion: painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals were so prolific that they were able to make a living from their talent alone; so much so that, within a prosperous society, thanks to wealth from overseas colonies and financial speculation, collecting works of art became a status symbol.

The Business of Creativity

May 2020 •English

Going into my interview with Laurel Greenfield, I thought the majority of our conversation would be about her inspiration for painting food and why she chose to pursue painting as a career. We spoke about that but ended up having a much bigger conversation about pursuing a creative career. We talked a lot about finding the balance between having a business plan and taking a leap of faith into the unknown, something anyone pursuing a creative field on their own can relate to.