I got caught up in holiday chores yesterday, but here is a listing of art movies to try out over the holidays–as promised.
Dramas I can recommend with artists as main characters, without being too particular about accuracy, include:
The Moderns (with Keith Carradine and a great soundtrack)
Camille Claudel (Isabelle Adjani as Rodin’s lover and protégé)
Artemisia (Artemisia Gentileschi)
Wolf at the Door (Donald Sutherland as Gauguin)
Basquiat
Pollock
Frida
Another one I like a great deal is Impromptu with Judy Davis as the writer Georges Sand and Hugh Grant as Chopin. There is only a token appearance by someone as the painter Eugène Delacroix, but I love the way it depicts the interaction among all of the arts (nice romance, too).
Do not miss the documentary How to Draw a Bunny about the mysterious art, life, death of Ray Johnson. It may be a favorite of all time.
And before you mention it, I can’t recommend Surviving Picasso. Didn’t care for it at all. Nor was I crazy about Girl with a Pearl Earring, although the paint-mixing and conversations with Vermeer about color were interesting.
Most of these are entertaining more than educational. That’s an entirely different list!
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