How Art Made the World Episode Guide

Episode Guide

• Season 1 Episode 5: To Death and Back

  Nigel Spivey concludes the series by examining depictions of death, discussing the psychological reasons it has proven so fascinating throughout history. The programme features disturbing Aztec artwork and the oldest known images of Hell, and also considers the practice of commemorating the dead with photographs and memorials - as well as the use of death as a dramatic device

• Season 1 Episode 4: Once Upon a Time

  Nigel Spivey examines the evolution of visual storytelling, drawing parallels between ancient narrative artwork and modern movies. His journey takes him to Iraq, where he discovers how the Mesopotamian civilisation created the first recorded epic, carved on clay tablets. He also examines the images on Trajan's column in Rome, which uses methods similar to today's film-making techniques to document the emperor's life, and learns about the storytelling traditions of the Australian Aborigines

• Season 1 Episode 3: The Art of Persuasion

  Nigel Spivey discusses how rulers throughout history have used images to advance their own political ends, examining the artwork created by ancient kings and emperors to influence their people. His journey takes him from Stonehenge, where he discovers the first leader in Britain to use art for self-promotion, to the propaganda methods of Alexander the Great, before revealing the earliest evidence of a ruler deceiving his subjects through the power of imagery

• Season 1 Episode 2: The Day Pictures Were Born

  Nigel Spivey explores the human obsession with making pictures, from cave paintings more than 400,000 years old to the images of the present day. His investigation takes in the tribal rituals of the Kalahari Bushmen and one of the most incredible monuments of the ancient world - and even requires him to stimulate hallucinations in his own brain

• Season 1 Episode 1: More Human Than Human

  New series exploring the history and development of art, tracing how the iconic images of ancient civilisations have left their mark on the modern world. Nigel Spivey questions why, throughout the ages, artists have created stylised depictions of the human form, travelling to Austria to examine one of the earliest representations of the body ever found, and studying the sculpture of the Greeks and Egyptians. Plus, neuroscientist VS Ramachandran discusses what unrealistic or idealised images of people reveal about the creators