Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Artists on the Big Screen


Hollywood loves artists because they're observant, flawed, eccentric and vulnerable—qualities a main character must have to win over the audience. 

Artists also allow directors to smuggle scores of "beauty shots" into their films. Always a plus.

Here's my list of the top films depicting artists (in chronological order). Take advantage of the lockdown to watch them.

Rembrandt (1936). Suddenly widowed, the Dutch painter's life—and work—take a dark turn.

The Moon and Sixpence (1942). A British stockbroker rejects middle-class comfort for la vie de bohème. Paul Gaugin as seen through the eyes of Somerset Maugham.

Lust for Life (1956). A day doesn't go by when painter Vincent Van Gogh doesn't struggle with self-expression. We get an earful. (And eyeful.)

The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). The Pope relentlessly insists that sculptor Michelangelo completes a mural. The surly sculptor hits the ceiling.

Savage Messiah (1972). Sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska will do anything to gain an audience. Anything. A raucous art-adventure directed by Ken Russell and starring the young Helen Mirren.

Vincent and Theo (1990). Proof that every artist needs a devoted patron. A stunningly filmed passion project from director Robert Altman.

Pollock (2000). Proof—80 proof—that whiskey will wreck an artist's life. A chilling passion project from the star and director, Ed Harris.

Renoir (2012). Old age can't stop a determined artist, especially when his household revolves around him.

Mr. Turner (2014). To some artists, romance arrives late in life. A charming and beautiful period film.

Big Eyes (2014). A wife paints pictures the public loves, but her husband takes the credit. A surprising period romp from director Tim Burton.

Final Portrait (2017). Giacometti can't seem to finish the portrait of a friend. A joyful film about creativity—my favorite on the list—directed by Stanley Tucci.

Red (2018). Mark Rothko tackles his greatest challenge: the meaning of art—and of life.

Helene (2020). A Scandinavian painter falls in love with her art student, but he thinks of her merely as a good teacher.  

There are dozens more fine films about artists I'd include on a list of runners-up, including Moulin Rouge (1952), Caravaggio (1986), My Left Foot (1989), Basquiat (1996), Surviving Picasso (1996), Frida (2002), Modigliani (2004), Rodin (2018) and Sin (2019).

What film tops your list?

NOTE: Be sure to visit my website. Paintings make great gifts.
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