The art world is full of fascinating figures and stories, and when Hollywood or streaming services choose to highlight those stories, I’m clicking ‘watch now’ before I even read the description. It’s not too often that a truly engaging or entertaining art documentary, movie or series pops up, but when it does I want to tell everyone about it.
So, that’s what today’s blog is all about. I’m going to give you a line up of films, documentaries, documentary series’, and drama series’ ranging from 2014-2022 to add to your watchlist this weekend!
Big Eyes
Genre: Drama
Directed by: Tim Burton
Release year: 2014
Starring: Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz
This film is based on the true story of American artist Margaret Keane (1927-2022) and her second husband Walter Keane (1915-2000). It’s a story of crime, plagiarism, the evolution of the art industry, and a female artists independence.
Watch on Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime
Banksy Does New York
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Chris Moukarbel
Release year: 2014
This documentary film follows the evasive street artist Banksy during his “self-proclaimed” month long residency in New York City in October of 2013.
Watch on Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV, and HBO Max
The Monuments Men
Genre: War/Drama
Directed by: George Clooney
Release year: 2014
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Jean Claude Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, and Bob Balaban
This film is based on the book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Bret Witter and Robert M. Edsel. Which tells the story of how during WWII, the Nazi’s stole countless pieces of precious artwork with the intent to destroy it. A group of about 345 men and women from 13 nations embarked on a mission to “protect cultural treasures so far as war allowed.” They were then known as the “Monuments Men.”
Watch on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Sling TV, Starz, Philo, Apple TV, and YouTube TV
Medici
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Seasons: 3
Created by: Frank Spotnitz and Nicholas Meyer
Running Years: 2016-2019
This series follows the famed Medici family (a family traced back to the end of the 12th century), a prominent banking family in Florence, Italy and huge patrons in the arts. Cosimo de’ Medici (1389-1464, a former art student himself) is credited in pushing the completion the dome of the Duomo and supporting the bankrupt architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) in the pursuit. Each season of the series follows different generations of the family.
Watch on Netflix
Abstract: The Art of Design
Genre: Documentary
Seasons: 2
Created by: Scott Dadich
Release year: 2017 (S1)
This documentary series follows a multitude of innovative designers in different disciplines and how design impacts everyday life.
Watch on Netflix
Loving Vincent
Genre: Drama/Crime
Directed by: Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
Release year: 2017
Starring: Robert Gulaczyk, Douglas Booth, Jerome Flynn, Saoirse Ronan, Helen McCrory, Chris O’Dowd, John Sessions, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Aiden Turner
This is the first ever entirely painted film made of 65,000 frames, all oil paintings on canvas using the same techniques as Vincent van Gogh. A team made up of 125 artists from all over the world painted the film. The plot centers around Armand Roulin, who was the son of Vincent’s postman, Joseph Roulin (who van Gogh actually painted a number of times). One year after van Gogh’s death, Joseph tasks Armand to deliver Vincent’s last letter to his dear brother, Theo. There’s also a discussion of the suspicious circumstances surrounding van Gogh’s death.
Watch on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube TV, YouTube, and Vudu
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Ireneusz Dobrowolski
Release year: 2018
This documentary includes archived footage and interviews that provide a look into the career of Polish painter and sculptor Stanislaw Szukalski. Evidently Szukalski was a “mad genius” with a very interesting life.
Watch on Netflix
At Eternity’s Gate
Genre: Drama
Directed by: Julian Schnabel
Release year: 2018
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Rupert Friend
This film is not a strict biopic about the life of Vincent van Gogh but is inspired by true events. It follows the final years of van Gogh’s life in Arles, France. The film dramatizes the controversial theory put forward by van Gogh biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, in which they speculate that van Gogh’s death was caused by mischief rather than suicide.
Watch on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Tubi, YouTube, and Vudu
Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Barry Avrich
Release year: 2020
This true crime documentary film is about the largest art fraud in American history that was run out the now discredited Knoedler Gallery in New York City and tries to confirm/deny the culpability of the former Knoedler director, Ann Freedman.
Watch on Netflix
This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Colin Barnicle
Release year: 2021
This true crime documentary miniseries is about the March 18th 1990 robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA. Museum guards let in two men posing as police officers then thirteen artworks were stolen from the museum; works by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, Manet, and more. They are still missing to this day.
Watch on Netflix
Black Art: In the Absence of Light
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Sam Pollard
Release year: 2021
This documentary film centers around the work of the late artist and curator David Driskell; and the renowned 1976 exhibition he curated; Two Centuries of Black American Art (held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Two Centuries was the first comprehensive survey of African American art. The film also highlights the unforgettable contributions of some of the foremost African American artists in today’s contemporary art world, including Theaster Gates, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Amy Sherald, and many more.
Watch on HBO Max
Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal, and Greed
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Joshua Rofé
Release year: 2021
“We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” This biographical documentary film is about the man who loved to paint those “happy little trees,” the iconic Bob Ross, and the war his business empire endured. It’s a story about greed, manipulation, and deception.
Watch on Netflix
Inventing Anna
Genre: Drama
Created by: Shonda Rhimes
Release year: 2022
Starring: Julia Garner, Anna Chlumsky, Laverne Cox, Katie Lowes, and Anders Holm
This drama miniseries is inspired by the 2018 New York magazine article about Anna Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin) by Jessica Pressler. The series, developed for television by Shonda Rhimes, follows Vivian Kent (a character inspired by Pressler), and Anna Delvey; a con-artist posing as a German heiress trying to start an art collective in New York City.
Watch on Netflix
The Andy Warhol Diaries
Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Andrew Rossi
Release year: 2022
This documentary series uses Andy Warhol’s diary entries and archived footage to shed light on his life and the secrets behind his famed persona. Warhol’s diary was turned into a book and published in 1989, The Andy Warhol Diaries, edited by Warhol’s long-time friend Pat Hackett. Warhol began documenting his life in a diary after he was shot in the stomach and chest by Valerie Solanas in 1968.
Watch on Netflix
Principle Gallery 