Edvard Munchs The Scream is one of the worlds most famous works of art Munch produced four versions two of which have been stolen In 1994 for instance thieves stole a version from an Oslo Museum in under a minute They left a message thanking the museum for the poor security

Painted during Viennas cultural heyday Gustav Klimts Portrait of Adele was stolen from an Austrian familys home by the Nazis during WWII After the war one museum claimed Adele BlochBauer who died in 1925 had willed the work to it Subsequent records however revealed that Adeles widower Ferdinand BlochBauer who fled Nazi Germany left the painting to surviving familynbsp

Works spanning Rembrandts life from selfportraits to landscapes have been scattered across the globe These paintings now have a life and history all their own In this episode you will learn how Rembrandts works found their way worldwide and how that history impacts the art world

It took nearly three centuries for El Grecos paintings to be truly appreciated No artist has ever been more ahead of his time

Many believe Leonardo da Vinci was the epitome of the Renaissance and the most talented individual who ever lived A polymath da Vinci not only painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper but he also was a scientist and inventor While his greatest legacy remains in his art were still unearthing the secrets of how he worked

Jan van Eyck left behind a remarkable legacy of works including the spectacular Ghent altarpiece in the St Bavos Cathedral in Ghent Belgium There is not however much evidence of who van Eyck exactly was After he died his reputation grew and his paintings became highly sought after by buyers and thieves alike In the process the mysterious tale of the van Eyck family was slowly revealed

Many believe Leonardo da Vinci was the epitome of the Renaissance and the most talented individual who ever lived A polymath da Vinci not only painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper but he also was a scientist and inventor While his greatest legacy remains in his art were still unearthing the secrets of how he worked

Claude Monet the father of impressionism had a lifelong obsession with capturing the changing nature of light That obsession resulted in works that inspired a movement Impressionism had its roots in Paris but Impressionist artists drew on diverse inspirations

Its hard to believe that 17th century artist Johannes Vermeer was all but forgotten until the mid19th century One of Vermeers most famous and iconic works Girl with a Pearl Earring estimated to have been created in 1665 was also lost for 200 years before it was rediscovered

Paul Cezanne inspired the most lauded artists of the 20th century but he struggled for years to achieve anywhere near their levels of success Today one of Cezannes paintings is rumored to have sold for the highest price in history

At an early age English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner was hailed as a prodigy Turner went on to become a versatile and innovative artist and had a remarkably successful career but his experimental works proved highly controversial amongst his contemporaries

Along with Leonardo and Michelangelo Raphael forms the trinity of great masters of the Italian high Renaissance All three of these artists were working in Rome at the same time While Michelangelo and Leonardo reached old age Raphael died suddenly at just 37 but in that time he still produced a staggering array of works