Art of the Western World

Season 1

First broadcast on October 2, 1989, these 18 original 30-minute episodes provide a panorama of 2000 years of architecture, painting and sculpture, and studies the art masterpieces as reflections of the Western culture that produced them.

Where to Watch Season 1

12 Episodes

  • The Classical Ideal
    E1
    The Classical IdealThe Greeks created a classical ideal against which all subsequent art would be measured; Rome's genius lay in architecture and civil engineering. Featured: the Parthenon, the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, the Pantheon, the sarcophagus of Juius Bassus.
  • A White Garment of Churches
    E2
    A White Garment of ChurchesRomanesque art and architecture were shaped by two powerful forces: pilgrimage and the monastic movement. Gothic cathedrals elaborated and improved upon Romanesque design. Includes: Gislebertus, St.-Denis, Chartres, etc.
  • The Early Renaissance
    E3
    The Early RenaissanceIn Florence, classical themes were reborn and merged with Christian values. In the north, the Flemish masters worked in a new medium: oils. Featured: Donatello, Fra Angelico, Brunelleschi's dome, Claus Sluter, the Isenheim altarpiece, Jan van Eyck, Durer.
  • The High Renaissance
    E4
    The High RenaissanceRome became a vibrant center of art again with papal patronage. 16th-century Venice sought to present itself as the ideal city-state, infused with spectacle and idealism. Includes: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto, etc.
  • Realms of Light: The Baroque
    E5
    Realms of Light: The BaroqueThe Counter-Reformation inspired an artistic revival and an exuberant new style. In royal courts, artists expressed the power of the monarch. Featured: Caravaggio, Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Belvedere Palace, Rubens, Velazquez, Vermeer, Rembrandt.
  • An Age of Reason, An Age of Passion
    E6
    An Age of Reason, An Age of PassionAs society revolted against decadence and corruption, artists turned again to classical Greece. The romantic painters in turn elevated individual expression. Featured: Watteau, Syon House, David's The Death of Marat, Ingres, Delacroix, The Third of May.
  • Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
    E7
    Impressionism and Post-ImpressionismOnce scorned and despised, impressionist paintings today are among the most familiar images in art. Postimpressionists broke new ground with their radical use of color. Featured: Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Deurat's Sunday Afternoon.
  • Into the Twentieth Century
    E8
    Into the Twentieth CenturyRapid advances in science, thought, and technology led to the secessionists, fauves, and cubists. Dada rejected everything, and architecture went international. Featured: Klimt, Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye.
  • In Our Own Time
    E9
    In Our Own TimeThe center of the art world moved to New York, home to abstract expressionism. Artists reacted to postwar society with a bewildering array of styles, and postmodernism mined the past for ideas. Featured: Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol.
  • The Age of Gothic
    E10
    The Age of GothicThis episode explores and celebrates the origins, development, innovations, and glory of Gothic cathedrals, including one of its highest achievements, the cathedral of Chartres.
  • The Play of Light
    E11
    The Play of Light 16th-century Venice sought to present itself as the ideal city-state, and was infused with poetry and spectacle. Venetian art and architecture mirrored this and proclaimed it to the world.
  • Imperial Stone: The Art of Rome
    E12
    Imperial Stone: The Art of RomeAncient Roman architecture, sculpture, art, and engineering and their roots and influences from Greece. The Roman Empire as expressed in its great public monuments. Roman art, like that of Greece, is the cornerstone of all Western art.

 

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