Private Life of a Masterpiece

Season 5 - Private Life of a Masterpiece

• Season 5 Episode 1: Liberty Leading the People An exploration of Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, copies of which have been brandished by would-be revolutionaries on numerous occasions. The work depicts a bare-breasted figure of Liberty leading a rabble over a barricade, and its creator later complained that the trouble with revolutions was they got in the way of dinner parties

Season 4 - Private Life of a Masterpiece

• Season 4 Episode 5: The Kiss The series concludes with the story of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss, the erotically charged and popular work that has been the subject of intense interest since its unveiling. Speculation revolves around the identities of the sitters - though the man is thought by some to be the artist himself - and which of the pair is the dominant partner. Narrated by Samuel West
• Season 4 Episode 5: Portrait of the Artist's Mother The last episode of the series examines the story behind James McNeill Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black No1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, a painting which has been seen as both a celebration of aestheticism and a precursor of abstract art. The documentary reveals that, even though the artist's mother was a last-minute replacement for a younger model who failed to turn up for the sitting, the image has gone on to become one of the best-loved and most frequently satirised paintings in …
• Season 4 Episode 4: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Sam West narrates the story behind Picasso's painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which he nicknamed 'My Brothel'. Depicting five towering prostitutes, the artwork scandalised many of the artist's friends, and was created at a time of intense rivalry between Picasso and Matisse. Contributors including Germaine Greer and John Elderfield reveal what influence the bitterness between the two artists had on the piece, and why the painting is still regarded as a revolutionary masterwork
• Season 4 Episode 4: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884 The story of Georges Seurat's La Grande Jatte, a masterpiece of pointillism - the use of countless tiny dots of colour - which portrays Parisians enjoying an outing on the banks of the River Seine. Despite its popularity, the work may not be all it seems, as a closer inspection reveals
• Season 4 Episode 3: The Battle of San Romano An exploration of Paolo Uccello's three works known collectively as The Battle of San Romano, portraying men in close combat. The triptych represents an amazing breakthrough in painting and became the victim of one of the most extraordinary art crimes ever committed
• Season 4 Episode 3: The Sunflowers Samuel West narrates the story of Van Gogh's famous painting Sunflowers, which was originally inspired by a bunch of flowers the artist found lying in a gutter. Van Gogh regarded this as one of his best works and made 10 different copies of it. The paintings draw on traditional Dutch techniques, and are ripe with religious symbolism - the artist claimed that the way a flower's head follows the sun parallels the devotion of the faithful toward God. Admiration for this painting sparked Gauguin's i…
• Season 4 Episode 2: The Art of Painting The story of Johannes Vermeer's favourite picture The Art of Painting, which he kept in his studio as an example to show wealthy patrons. The work utilises symbolism, perspective and a striking combination of light and shade, which the artist may have achieved by using a camera obscura. With contributions by Jonathan Jones and Richard Cork
• Season 4 Episode 2: The Little Dancer Aged 14 Samuel West narrates the story behind Degas's sculpture The Little Dancer Aged 14. Depicting a girl wearing a real tutu, the figure scandalised the art world when it was first exhibited, but has since gone on to become one of the artist's most loved works. The poignant life of the model is also revealed, as well as how the masterpiece broke every rule in the book. Featuring contributions from dancer Deborah Bull and Degas expert Richard Kendall
• Season 4 Episode 1: The Great Wave Series exploring the background of famous artworks, beginning with an insight into the enduring appeal of Hokusai's woodblock painting The Great Wave, one of the world's most reproduced works of art. Created when the painter was in his seventies, it depicts three boats on the brink of being engulfed by the sea, and has become a reflection of man's fear of impending doom. The programme also explores how Hokusai's style has been echoed in canvases from David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein to an onli…

Episodes - Private Life of a Masterpiece

• The Christ of St John of the Cross - Dali Salavador Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross, a piece so shocking that, during its first exhibition, several people fainted
• Dance at the Moulin de la Galette The story behind Renoir's 1876 painting Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, depicting a lively afternoon in the Montmartre dance hall. However, the celebratory tone of the picture is in stark contrast to the darker events of the time - a few years before it was painted, the Moulin de la Galette was seized by a resistance group who were later attacked by government troops. Renoir painted two identical versions of the picture, but it is still unknown which is the original
• The Kiss An exploration of Rodin's sculpture The Kiss. Considered by many to be the most sensual work of art in the last 200 years, the piece was highly controversial when first unveiled. Historians attempt to discover the identity of the models behind the intertwined lovers, and there's a look at the extraordinary events surrounding the statue
• La Primavera The story behind Botticelli's enigmatic 15th-century masterpiece La Primavera, which saw the artist abandoning his previous conventional depictions of Christian imagery in favour of sensual female figures of the kind that would come to typify the Renaissance period. One of the first major secular works of art since Roman times, the painting remained in the hands of the Medici dynasty for centuries, and wasn't displayed publicly until the 1800s. However, it has become a highly influential work, b…
• The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci Exploring the background of The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci, a controversial work that has continued to cause division in the art world to the present day
• Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe Examination of Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, Edouard Manet's 1863 depiction of a summer picnic on the grass, which changed the way nudes were painted and established the reputation of the artist as a radical. Art experts and enthusiasts trace the painting's history and reveal how it has been reworked as everything from a sculpture to an album cover by Eighties pop group Bow Wow Wow
• Little Dancer Aged 14 Edgar Degas's bronze sculpture Little Dancer Aged 14, which shocked most critics upon its unveiling in 1881 but has since become recognised as one of the artist's major works
• Michelangelo's David The history of Michelangelo's David, an iconic statue which is still easily recognisable across much of the world five centuries after its creation, appearing on everything from fridge magnets to T-shirts. The film looks at how the artist managed to capture the human body in exquisitely fine detail on such an impressive scale, and how it attained the status of masterpiece after years of neglect during which serious damage occurred
• The Night Watch The story behind The Night Watch, Rembrandt's famous depiction of a group of Dutch militiamen, which has become the most revered work of art in Holland. The painting has had an eventful history - sections of canvas were sliced off to fit it into a hall, it has been vandalised twice, and survived the perils of the Nazi occupation. Art experts offer their opinions on the techniques Rembrandt used to create his masterpiece
• The Resurrection by Piero della Francesca Piero Della Francesca's The Resurrection, revealing a story from World War Two involving the painting and exploring the use of perspective
• The Rokeby Venus Part two of two. The history of the Rokeby Venus, a life-sized oil study of a naked woman which is shrouded in mystery. The painting was created by Diego Velazquez at a time when the Spanish Inquisition was actively suppressing art considered indecent
• The Scream First of a two-part programme exploring the background of the world's most famous artworks, beginning with the history and inspiration behind Edvard Munch's The Scream, which was originally created as the last in a series of paintings depicting the evolution of a love affair. The painter wanted to capture images of real people in real situations, but it was only in the aftermath of World War Two that the picture suddenly seemed to become more relevant to the times and gained mass popularity
• Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Examination of George Seurat's painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, a huge and complex work of 19th century art
• The Third of May 1808 The story of Goya's celebrated painting The Third of May 1808, which depicts a Spanish uprising against Napoleon, showing the rebels being gunned down by armed troops. The painting's depiction of war as futile and destructive was greeted with outrage at the time, not least from the exiled Spanish king who commissioned it, and it lay forgotten for 100 years before winning new acclaim as the artist's masterpiece
• Whistler's Mother A look at the painting Arrangement in Grey and Black, also known as Whistler's Mother, in reference to the portrait's subject