Art DVD Review: Simon Schama's Power of Art

Take a knowledgeable, eloquent, opinionated art historian not afraid to express praise or damnation, select eight acknowledged art masters (Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko), mix in historical reconstructions and contemporary on-site footage, and you've got a recipe for a powerful and inspiring art series indeed.

Simon Schama's Power of Art is compelling and informative, entertaining and surprising. It'll leave you sated with the wonder of painting yet, as with anything delectable, wishing there were more to be had. You'll rush from watching it to your easel!

Pros

Cons

"This is not a saunter through the gallery on a drowsy Sunday afternoon, a Grand Tour of Beauty through the ages. Instead, it is a descent into the volcano of the creating imagination, into the fires where some of the greatest things humans have ever wrought were fashioned." That's Simon Schama's description of his Power of Art series, and you do indeed need to ready yourself for a fiery time that will fill your visual and auditory senses.

Each episode features one painter and his work, starting with Caravaggio and ending with Rothko, via Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, and Picasso (plus one on the sculptor Bernini). Schama's tale is fresh and compelling, so that even if you know quite a lot about an artist you'll come away with something new.

Schama is not afraid to express an opinion, to toss out sacred cows, and to share his passionate appreciation. In a world where every daub by Picasso is generally regarded as great art, it's striking to hear an art historian say he believes Picasso never achieved anything great again after Guernica.

The episodes don't follow a formulaic format. Even though each has the same elements (historical reconstruction, on-site narration by Schama, close-ups of artworks, and a deconstruction of why the art works) they're all structured differently, so the impact of each is fresh.

This is art storytelling at its finest: compelling and informative, easy-to-understand but never patronizing, entertaining but not dumbed down. Watch it whether you're a painter who enjoys delving into the lives of the masters and their creative drive, or a painter who thinks you ought to learn something about famous painters and their motivations but has been put off by formal art history.

You'll come away with new insight into the creative process, which you'll be able to apply to your own work and ambitions.