Episodes

8 episodes in this season

Caravaggio

50 min

Bernini

50 min

Rembrandt

50 min

Jacques-Louis David

50 min

Turner

50 min

Now Playing

Van Gogh

50 min

Picasso

50 min

Rothko

50 min

Simon Schama's Power of Art

TV Series

200650m8.2

Documentary

Now playing

Van Gogh

Season 1 · Episode 6 · Nov 23, 2006

Born in Groot-Zundert, The Netherlands, Van Gogh spent his early life as an art dealer, teacher and preacher in England, Holland and Belgium. His period as an artist began in 1881 when he chose to study art in Brussels, starting with watercolours and moving quickly on to oils. The French countryside was a major influence on his life and his early work was dominated by sombre, earthy colours depicting peasant workers, the most famous of which is The Potato Eaters, 1885. It was during Van Gogh's studies in Paris (1886-8) that he developed the individual style of brushwork and use of colour that made his name. In 1888 he moved to Arles where the Provençal landscape provided his best-known subject matter. However, it also marked the start of his mental crisis following an argument with his contemporary Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh was committed to a mental asylum in 1889 where he continued to paint, but he committed suicide in 1890.

More details

Simon Schama's Power of Art

TV Series

200650m8.2

Documentary

Now playing

Van Gogh

Season 1 · Episode 6 · Nov 23, 2006

More details