The Power Of Art: 1/8 - Caravaggio (BBC Series)

Michelangelo Merisi left his birth town of Caravaggio in the north of Italy to study as an apprentice in nearby Milan. In 1593 he moved to Rome, impatient to use his talents on the biggest stage possible.

Caravaggio's approach to painting was unconventional. He avoided the standard method of making copies of old sculptures and instead took the more direct approach of painting directly onto canvas without drawing first. He also used people from the street as his models. His dramatic painting was enhanced with intense and theatrical lighting.

Caravaggio's fate was sealed when in 1606 he killed a man in a duel. He fled to Naples where he attempted to paint his way out of trouble, he became a Knight, but was then imprisoned in Malta and then finally he moved to Sicily. He was pardoned for murder in 1610, but he died of a fever attempting to return to Rome.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is not a series about things that hang on walls, it is not about decor or prettiness. It is a series about the force, the need, the passion of art
...the power of art.

The power of the greatest art is the power to shake us into revelation and rip us from our default mode of seeing. After an encounter with that force, we don't look at a face, a colour, a sky, a body, in quite the same way again. We get fitted with new sight: in-sight. Visions of beauty or a rush of intense pleasure are part of that process, but so too may be shock, pain, desire, pity, even revulsion. That kind of art seems to have rewired our senses. We apprehend the world differently.

Art that aims that high -- whether by the hand of Caravaggio, Van Gogh or Picasso -- was not made without trouble and strife. Of course there has been plenty of great art created in serenity, but the popular idea that some masterpieces were made under acute stress with the artist struggling for the integrity of the conception and its realisation is not a "romantic myth" at all. A glance at how some of the most transforming works got made by human hands is an encounter with "moments of commotion".

It's those hot spots in which great risks were taken that The Power of Art brings you. Instead of trying to reproduce the un-reproducible feeling you have when you are face to face with those works in the hush of the gallery or a church, the series (and the book) drops you instead into those difficult places and unforgiving dramas when the artists managed, against the odds, to astound. "Every artist thinks he's Rembrandt", Picasso once joked, but there would come a time when he thought so himself!

All the artists in our series -- and some of the contemporary artists on our website who have joined in its spirit to reflect on them -- have felt part of this craft of exhilarating trouble. I hope, when you watch the programmes, you too get to feel the heat.

the power of art, bbc, power of art, documentary, simon schama, series, tv, documentaries, schama, art, caravaggio, episode 1, david, episodes, turner, van gogh, painting, museum, the arts, bernini, rembrandt, picasso, rothko, bbc documentary, bbc series, documentary channel, learningchannei, inside the saudi kingdom, documentarychannei, troublesvictims, national geographic, discovery, television, history, arts,

• Category

  Education

[2IDSGT]

I only clicked on this video because I remembered the presenter from "A History of Britain." Now I utterly hooked; never knew that art could be so interesting. Thanks for posting; I'm gonna watch every episode now.

[incantatis]

Most amazing series and extremely educational! That is exactly how art should be presented, explained and taught!

[Michael Anderson]

This guy needs to stop sounding like he's reporting the news and just talk normally.

[tfrogersjr]

yeah

[vlatakiele p.]

one of my favorite painters*.*

[Setp Tnn]

T^T Where's Subtitleeee!

[fuh cue]

i love fags when they speak truth

[wcjones451]

Yes it totally is!

[ChicagoDreamer5]

Brilliant! Thanks for posting this, I loved it!!! <3

[jimibeckert]

He is a real crazy. Wow great show. I will keep watching

[Jam5bam]

Spider man !!! Andrew what his name?

[Jenna Bacci]

Omg is that Andrew Garfield????