Gang of Four
Episode 1 of 4
Duration: 1 hour
Art writer Waldemar Januszczak explores the revolutionary achievements of the Impressionists. In the first episode, Waldemar delves into the back stories of four of the most influential Impressionists - Pissarro, Monet, Renoir and Bazille - who together laid the foundations of the artistic movement. He finds out what social and cultural influences drove them to their style of painting, how they were united and how ultimately they challenged and changed art forever.
Waldemar journeys from the shores of the West Indies, to the progressive city of Paris to the suburbs of South London, where these four artists drew inspiration from the cities and towns in which they lived. Whether it be the infamous spot on the river Seine - La Grenouillere - where Monet and Renoir beautifully captured animated people, iridescent light and undulating water or the minimalist, non-sensationalised illustrations of Pissarro's coarse countryside paintings, Waldemar discovers how the Impressionists broke conventions by depicting every day encounters within the unpredictable and ever changing sights around them.
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Painting outdoors
Episode 2 of 4
Duration: 1 hour
Waldemar Januszczak continues his investigation of the Impressionists by taking us outdoors to their most famous locations. Although Impressionist pictures often look sunny and relaxed, achieving this peaceful air was hard work. Trudging through fog, wind and rain, across treacherous coastal rocks and knee-deep snow, Waldemar shows how the famous spontaneity of the Impressionists is thoroughly misleading.
This episode visits the French riverside locations that Monet loved to paint, and where Renoir captured the bonhomie of modern life. Waldemar also introduces a number of technical and practical developments of the age which completely revolutionised Impressionist painting - the invention of portable easels; the use of hog's hair in paint brushes; as well as the introduction of the railway through France. And a scientific demonstration in a Swedish snowdrift explains just how right the Impressionists were to paint brightly coloured shadows in their winter scenes, despite being accused of 'hallucinating' at the time.
Finally, Januszczak explains Cezanne's part in the Impressionist story from his dark and challenging early work to his first rural landscapes in France, and then his departure from Paris and separation from the Impressionist gang.
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Painting the People
Episode 3 of 4
Duration: 1 hour
Waldemar Januszczak continues his investigation of the Impressionists, focusing this time on the people they painted and in particular the subjects of Degas, Caillebotte and the often forgotten Impressionist women artists. The Impressionists are famous for painting landscape but they were just as determined to paint people.
Looking closely at one of Impressionism's finest painters, Edgar Degas, Waldemar reveals how he consistently challenged traditions and strove to record real life as it appeared in the city, from sculpting the contorted movements of horses in motion at the Longchamp race course in Paris to encapsulating extravagant 3D viewpoints of the ballet dancers at the Paris Opera.
Waldemar also uncovers the intoxicating haziness the pastel produced in Degas' work when visiting his supplier Pastels de Roche. He also reveals the unusual viewpoints and dramatic perspectives of Caillebotte's paintings from the Place de L'Europe and the rebellious and revolutionary art of Morisot, Bracquemond and Cassatt, three impressive female artists who were eagerly embraced by the progressive movement of Impressionism
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Final Flourish
Episode 4 of 4
Duration: 1 hour
This episode takes a closer look at the late years of Impressionism, using the last show these artists did together as a starting point.
Waldemar looks in considerable depth at the work of Georges Seurat, taking into consideration his academic training at the Beaux-Arts School in Paris and the artists that influenced him, such as Piero della Francesca and Puvis de Chavannes.
There is also an insight into the complex but fascinating world of optics and art, and the ways in which the Impressionists were using the new discoveries in light and eyesight to influence their work. A fascinating 'after-image' experiment brings to life the ways in which our own eyes see colour, both in its presence and its absence.
Van Gogh's time in Paris, a period very little is known about, is also covered, charting the incredible journey the artist made from his brown and dull canvases to the splendid colour and light that pervaded his work on the cusp of his departure for the South of France.
The film finishes with a revisiting of Monet and his later waterlily paintings in the Orangerie in Paris. Waldemar investigates how a bad case of cataracts was responsible for a seismic shift in his colour palette and his brushstrokes. Spending time with an ophthalmologist, he finds out how old age and a fairly common ailment of the eyes caused Impressionism to shift and become radical again at the turn of the century and into the 20th century

《爱德华·蒙克》（Edvard Munch，1863年12月12日—1944年1月23日），挪威表现主义画家和版画家。蒙克作品的强烈精神和感情，对心理苦闷的强烈的、呼唤式的处理手法对20世纪初德国表现主义的成长起了主要的影响。他的作品“呐喊”（挪威语Skr ik，也译作《尖叫》，作于1893年）被视为后工业现代化的极度痛苦之象征。
这部传记影片大致遵循了1884年到1894年的时间顺序，爱德华·蒙克开始表现主义创作并且成为欧洲北部最具有争议、最多诽谤的画家。影片同时还回溯到在他五岁的时候，母亲死于肺病，其姐姐的死亡以及他自己在13岁的时候因为肺部疾病差点丧命。影片还回顾了，蒙克短暂的爱情以及他在挪威首都和德国柏林参与的一些政治活动。
花絮：
彼得·沃特金（Peter Watkins）1974年执导的这部影片记录了挪威表现主义画家爱华德·蒙克的一生，被英格玛·伯格曼评价为“天才之作”。这部影片被认为是表现艺术创作过程的最佳作品之一，它不仅聚焦于蒙克早期循规蹈矩的岁月，还深刻地展现了情感、政治和社会的剧变对他的艺术创作产生的影响。MoC这次发行的是原始的 211分钟电视版本，这也是本片地位和评价最高的一个版本。依彼得·沃特金斯所言，这是他最具个人风格的一部影片。当他被蒙克的画作触动之后，花了三年的时间来说服挪威电视台拍摄这部影片。影片1976年3月在英国BBC电视台播放之后得到评论界的广泛褒扬。《时代》杂志在评论中用到了“催眠”一词，的确，Watkins就像催眠大师一样将观众拖进了1884年的挪威。
这部传记影片大致遵循了1884年到1894年的时间顺序，爱德华•蒙克开始表现主义创作并且成为欧洲北部最具争议性、得到最多诽谤的画家。影片回溯了在他五岁的时候母亲死于肺病、其姐姐的死亡以及他自己在13岁的时候也因为肺部疾病差点丧命的经历。影片还回顾了蒙克短暂的爱情以及他在挪威首都和德国柏林参与的一些政治活动。