Art and History

A 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.

The story of the uncompromising artist and fighter for freedom, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known to the world as "El Greco".

Painter Francisco Goya faces a scandal involving his muse, who is labeled a heretic by a monk.

Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.

Stealing Klimt recounts the struggle by 90-year-old Maria Altmann to recover five Gustav Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis in Vienna. From the end of the War up until last year, these paintings hung in the Austrian National Gallery. The film covers Maria's early life in glittering fin-de-siècle Vienna, her dramatic escape from Nazi terror and her courageous fight to recover the five Klimt's against all the odds. Maria's fight to reclaim the paintings eventually took her to the United States Supreme Court and pitted her not just against Austria but also against the US Government which asked the Supreme Court to reject her case. After Maria finally emerged victorious in 2006, one of the paintings - the "Golden Portrait" of Maria's aunt, Adele Bloch Bauer - was sold to cosmetics tycoon Ronald Lauder for $135m, becoming the world's most expensive painting ever sold. The other four paintings were recently auctioned at Christie's for record prices.

Focusing on eight iconic works of art, Power of Art reveals the history of visual imagination through the ages.

Mythologist Joseph Campbell presents his ideas about comparative mythology and the ongoing role of myth in human society.

Provides a panorama of 2000 years of architecture, painting and sculpture, and studies the art masterpieces as reflections of the Western culture that produced them.

A historical documentary tracing the Jewish experience from ancient to modern times, presented by Simon Schama and based on his book of the same name.

Tracing the Medici family's rise from a modest Florentine community to European rulers through charm, patronage and ruthlessness that ignited the Renaissance while sowing seeds of their eventual downfall.

Michael Wood visits places and interviews experts all over India to cover the great chapters of the subcontinent's history.

Art critic Matthew Collings looks into the current state of contemporary art, exploring how Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol have redefined art and how modern art seeks to shock the audience.

The intimate story of the most illustrious brotherhood of impressionist artists: Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne and Manet.

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.

A definitive eight part series on the rise and fall of the modern art movement presented by critic Robert Hughes.

A major 25 part television series in which art historian Tim Marlow takes a fresh look at the most important artworks of some of the greatest artists in history. Shot on location in over 50 galleries, museums, churches and palaces throughout Europe and the United States, this series is a comprehensive survey of the history of Western art. Both intelligent and informative, the series aims to provide an uncomplicated and accessible analysis of the works and artists featured including Giotto, Michelangelo and Raphael.