Art of France

Season 1

It’s a nation famous for passion, rebellion and beauty. So it’s no surprise that art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon’s three-part tribute to French art is as visually stunning as it is dramatic. It’s a story of blood (King Louis XIV’s), guts (the idealists who overthrew the old rules to define a new revolution in art) and resistance – from the Romantics through to the Impressionists and beyond.

20173 episodes16+

Special Interest•Arts, Entertainment, and Culture

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S1 E1 - Plus Ca Change
January 29, 2017
51min
TV-14
The story of French art is full of drama – the most powerful kings ever to rule in Europe, with glittering palaces and astounding art to go in them. It’s also a story of conflict. In this engrossing study, historian Andrew Graham-Dixon explores how art emerged from the struggle between rulers and ruled, tradition and revolution – starting with the invention of Gothic architecture.
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S1 E2 - There Will Be Blood
February 5, 2017
52min
TV-14
The French Revolution ushered in a bold new world – in art as much as political life. British historian Andrew Graham-Dixon explores art’s dramatic about-turn: reinventing itself after the bloody execution of Louis XVI, its love-hate relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte, the rise of Romanticism and the art of seduction (cue sex and high drama). A grand tour of a gripping moment in French culture.
Free trial of BBC Select
S1 E3 - This Is the Modern World
February 12, 2017
50min
TV-14
One of the most wildly creative periods in the history of art, France was changing at a rapid pace and angry young impressionists were reinventing their craft – finding muses in the bars, brothels and cabarets of Belle Époque Paris. Andrew Graham-Dixon ends the series with a wild account of the 19th-century artists who paved the way for just about every modern art movement of note.
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