The broadcaster and journalist examines the stories behind famous works of art, beginning by focusing on Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. He pays a visit to the Louvre, where millions of visitors queue for hours for a fleeting glimpse of the iconic work, and traces the portrait's history, uncovering stories of groundbreaking artistic experimentation and gruesome dissections and one of the most audacious art thefts of the 20th century.
The broadcaster and journalist reveals the story behind Van Gogh's Sunflowers, visiting the National Gallery to examine the world-renowned painting created by a tormented artist who died when he was just 37 years of age. Andrew tells the barely believable tale of talent, loneliness and tragic heartbreak behind Van Gogh's iconic work, uncovers the clues in it that reveal the darkness that ultimately consumed the man who created it and the part this painting was to play in the tragic story of his death.
Andrew Marr visits the National Gallery to uncover the story behind JMW Turner's The Fighting Temeraire. The painting, depicting a ship that played a vtal role in the Battle of Trafalgar, proved a pivotal moment in the artist's career and remains a national treasure to this day, adorning the £20 note and topping a recent poll to choose the nation's favourite British painting.
The broadcaster and journalist returns to examine more famous works of art, beginning by looking at Claude Monet's Water Lilies series. Andrew travels to Paris to explore the remarkable story behind the cycle of huge flower paintings, a tale of personal tragedy, a brutal war and a man tormented by an unrelenting obsession.
The stories behind The Hay Wain by John Constable, tone of the most famous paintings of the English countryside ever created, delving into what the it really represents. This seemingly simple, bucolic scene may look idyllic, but this canvas is really about one man's obstinate refusal to conform, a yearning for acceptance by his peers, family tragedy, and a blinkered refusal to see the harsh realities of rural life in early 19th-century England. As Constable's story heads to Paris, Andrew explains how this simple British scene would ultimately inspire a group of Frenchmen to give the world Impressionism.
The presenter heads to Amsterdam to unravel the journey of a risky young artist with an exceptional skill, desperate for fame and fortune. From being the most famous painter in Amsterdam, to being buried in a pauper's grave, these are the highs and lows behind The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn.
This episode examines the story behind an iconic image created by arguably the most famous and influential artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso. Andrew Marr tells the harrowing and uplifting tale of his `barbed-wire face-mask" of a painting, Weeping Woman.
Seen as a paradigm of female beauty, Velazquez's only nude is considered one of the most erotically charged paintings of any age. In a time when such works were rare, due to the influence of the Inquisition, the painting adorned the secret sin-filled salons of the Spanish elite. But why is it considered so controversial and what drove one woman to attack it with a meat cleaver?
It’s one of the most arresting and intriguing visions ever committed to canvas. But the story of John Everett Millais’s Ophelia is as dramatic as the Shakespeare heroine portrayed in the picture. This haunting image was once the centerpiece of a radical artistic movement and dismissed by some critics, but is now beloved globally. But how is grave robbing connected to the painting?
It's a painting so magical that grown men have been said to faint while standing in front of it. The story behind Botticelli's The Birth of Venus is one of a tubby artist and a 15th Century traffic-stopping beauty played out against a backdrop of mind-boggling wealth and religious fanaticism. But over 500 years since its creation, why is this work still so mysterious and compelling?