Painter Modigliani, an Italian Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne, a beautiful Catholic girl. The couple have an illegitimate child, but Jeanne's bigoted parents send the baby to a faraway convent to be raised by nuns. Distraught by the loss Modigliani vows to find the money to raise his child and with the arrival of Paris's annual art competition he sees, as does his friend and rival Pablo Picasso, his opportunity. An enjoyable, if perhaps slightly imaginative, dramatization of the artist's ri find out more...

A largely fictional biopic depicting the solitary and star-crossed life of Toulouse Lautrec. We must all suffer for our art! The first half-hour is full of energy and verve as we trawl through the colourful Montmartre of Paris in the 1890's. find out more...

A portrait of the artist L.S. Lowry and the relationship with his mother, who tries to dissuade him from pursuing his passion.
As the title indicates, this is very much a film about Lowry's mother Elizabeth, a chronically il find out more...

Did Rembrandt's famous painting 'The Night Watch' contain cleverly concealed attacks on Amsterdam bigwigs, the seamy side of the Golden Age and, in particular, a political murder? The bigwigs may have thought so for after it the career of the great painter was destroyed. 'Nightwatching' is a clever blend of drama and art history investigation suited for more than just art history buffs, so put away your De Vinci Code B action rubbish and check this classy stuff out. Greenaway's best movie for find out more...

A mesmerizing deconstruction of the man, his life, his loves, his humanity and their influence on a painter who stands not only as a genius but as the greatest artist of the twentieth century. Covering Picasso's early childhood in Spain towards the end of the nineteenth century up to his death in the South of France in the 1970's this is the definitive film biography of the great man. find out more...

A powerful and poetic depiction of the great Dutch painter from 1642, the year of the painting of the Night Watch of the Civic Guard and the death of his wife, to his position of social pariah, financial ruin and death in 1669. Rembrandt is an atmospheric and moving film with a truly awesome performance by Charles Laughton in the lead role. find out more...

A groundbreaking film that is shot in a single unedited take, beginning with guests arriving for a ball at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and ending as they sedately disperse after the evening's entertainment. In between these two bookends an unnamed 19th century diplomat wanders the Hermitage corridors and salons examining the artwork and witnessing scenes from three hundred years of the building's history. Perhaps surprisingly, given the historical figures and the history of the Romonov monu find out more...

Supposedly a biography of Michelangelo, it is much more that of Pope Julius II, who, when not on the battlefield uniting Italy, nags Michelangelo, in an engaging and witty script, to speed up his painful work painting the Sistine Chapel, and wonders when he will finsh. The transformation of the chapel ceiling, which was originally dotted with stars, to an opulent statement of high renaissance is engrossing. find out more...

Superb sets, acting and Swiftian dialogue puts this historical "whodunnit" up among the best films to come out of Britain in years. An English noblewoman employs a haughty artist to sketch 12 drawings of her husband's estate in exchange for sex. The sketches themselves prove of an even greater significance than supposed upon the discovery of the body of Mr. Herbert. find out more...