{"id":93398,"date":"2018-11-09T14:38:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T13:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/?p=93398"},"modified":"2020-11-25T13:55:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T12:55:52","slug":"the-top-ten-art-biopics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/11\/09\/the-top-ten-art-biopics\/","title":{"rendered":"The top ten art biopics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-93398 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2018\/11\/09\/the-top-ten-art-biopics\/basquiat-1\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/basquiat-1-480x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-93402\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-93402'>\n\t\t\t\tBasquiat, by Julian Schnabel, 1996.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The first issue with compiling such list is that, unlike films that use art as an element of their narrative or documentaries, several passages within this genre are highly romanticized. Who can describe exactly all the joy and anxiety that was going through Van Gogh\u2019s head when Gauguin was about to come and visit him in Arles? Or the pain that Camille Claudel\u2019s<span lang=\"en-US\"> troubled relationship with Rodin inflicted in her heart? Yet biopics have given pleasure and content (though this shouldn\u2019t necessarily be taken as facts) to audiences around the world. As the cold months approach in the Northern Hemisphere, here\u2019s a list of some excellent ones:<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">Basquiat, by <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Julian Schnabel, <\/span>1996.<\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 \u2013 1988).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Unlike other films in this list, where the crew had to work with third-part accounts of an artist\u2019s life, director Julian <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Schnabel<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> was a friend and supporter of Basquiat during the latter\u2019s short-lived life, and he\u2019s loosely portrayed here as fictional painter <\/span>Albert Milo<span lang=\"en-US\"> (Gary Oldman). Basquiat perfectly embodies the joys and pains of overnight success: one day he was living rough on the streets; the next he was everyone\u2019s darling among NY\u2019s elite. Such abrupt change had a high bill for the ambitious, heroin-addict Basquiat, who started his career as a graffiti artist. It brought jealousy (from old pals), narcissism (of his own) and ultimate enclosure (by an upper class that he could not truly penetrate), leaving him increasingly alone. In his last years, Andy Warhol was his only friend and collaborator \u2013 of a group of works, it must be said, that was a true disaster. When Warhol passed, Basquiat\u2019s life went down the hill as quickly as it had gone up; he died of a drug overdose several months later, aged 27. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">Camille Claudel, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by <\/span>Bruno Nuytten,&nbsp;<span lang=\"en-US\">1988.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: <\/span>Camille Claudel <span lang=\"en-US\">(<\/span>1864&nbsp;\u2013 1943<span lang=\"en-US\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Camille Claudel was a brilliant artist at a time when, even in progressive France, it was quite tricky to be a female practitioner \u2013 women weren\u2019t allowed to study at the <\/span><span lang=\"fr-FR\">\u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, for instance. To make matters worst, both her brother and her mother weren\u2019t supportive of her. This didn\u2019t barred Claudel to pursue her talent, first at the tutelage of <\/span><span lang=\"fr-FR\">Alfred Boucher<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> and then <\/span>Auguste Rodin<span lang=\"en-US\"> \u2013 a relationship that would shape, for better or for worst, the rest of her life, both in private and artistic terms. Rodin became her mentor, and lover \u2013 though he never divorced \u2013; she turned into his favourite pupil and muse. The relationship eventually turned sour, most likely \u2013 as the film is fair in pointing out \u2013 due to Rodin\u2019s jealousy of her growing skills. With great performances by the beautiful <\/span><span lang=\"es-ES\">Isabelle Adjani<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> as Claudel and the quintessencial Frenchman <\/span>G<span lang=\"fr-FR\">\u00e9<\/span><span lang=\"nl-NL\">rard Depardieu<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> as Rodin.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">Caravaggio&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by <\/span>Derek Jarman,&nbsp;<span lang=\"en-US\">1986.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: <\/span><span lang=\"it-IT\">Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> (1571 \u2013 1610).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The further we go in history, the harder it gets to know how events have unfolded. Thus Derek Jarman wisely takes some artistic liberties as means to highlight the storytelling dimension of the narrative \u2013 such as the presence of electronic devices and cars. The whole cinematography of the film is very much aligned with Caravaggio\u2019s own somber choice off palette, which gives way for a beautiful aesthetic. The little we know for sure about the artist \u2013 his reputation as a troublemaker, taste for drinking and presumed bisexuality \u2013 is there. The love triangle of the film is between the artist, Lena (Tilda Swinton) and <\/span><span lang=\"it-IT\">Ranuccio (Sean Bean)<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, both actors in their debut role; as it often happens, Caravaggio is played by different men depending on his age. Both a visual delight and an immersive narrative.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">Frida,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by Julie Taymor,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">2002.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: Frida Kahlo (1907 \u2013 1954).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Perhaps the biggest blockbuster of this list, one of the highlights of the film is its music, with compelling performances by Caetano Veloso, <\/span><span lang=\"pt-PT\">Chavela Vargas <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">and Lila Downs, among others (the picture received the Academy Award for Best Original Score). It starts with Frida\u2019s (played by Salma Hayek) teenage years as a student, right before the infamous accident which left her with painful lifetime injuries; it was in the aftermath of this accident that she started painting her now famous portraits and self-portraits. This tragedy, however, didn\u2019t impede her to live a bohemian and brave lifestyle, full of love affairs with men and women \u2013 Trotsky being simply the most famous of them \u2013 and rebellious positions. For years she was mostly known as the wife of muralist painter Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), and as it\u2019s often the trope with non-European\/ US born artists, she first achieved recognition outside her native Mexico. Her signature style remains highly influential today, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vam.ac.uk\/event\/ljDqMmKD\/frida-inside-and-outside\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the V&amp;A in London currently hosting a major retrospective focusing on her wardrobe<\/a><!-- https:\/\/www.vam.ac.uk\/event\/ljDqMmKD\/frida-inside-and-outside --> and the recent release of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2018\/apr\/20\/frida-kahlo-barbie-doll-mexico-injunction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frida Kahlo barbie doll<\/a>.<!-- https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2018\/apr\/20\/frida-kahlo-barbie-doll-mexico-injunction --> Based on a biography, written by <\/span>Hayden Herrera<span lang=\"en-US\"> (1983).<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">I Shot Andy Warhol,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by Mary Harron,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">1996.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subjects: Andy Warhol (<\/span>1928<span lang=\"en-US\"> \u2013 1987) and Valerie Solanas (1936 \u2013 1988).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">An independent production \u2013 and director\u2019s Mary Harron\u2019s debut \u2013 it centres on the well known episode of Andy Warhol\u2019s attempted murder by Valerie Solanas in 1968. The narrative starts with Solanas being held in custody after the shooting, and unfolds to certain episodes of her life in form of flashbacks. All elements of a brewing disaster were there: troubled childhood where she suffered abuse, poverty and subsequent hustling to make ends meet, insecurities of all kinds and so forth. Solanas is a writer who harasses Warhol \u2013 with whom she was previously acquainted with via Candy Darling \u2013 to produce her play, Up Your Ass. At the same time, she is commissioned by a publisher to write a pornographic novel. Solanas becomes increasingly paranoid of the world, forging an inexistent plot between the artist and the editor to sabotage her, which leads to the shooting. She didn\u2019t succeed in killing Warhol, but left him with lifetime injuries and a permanent sense of persecution; the episode further had an enduring impact in Warhol\u2019s subsequent practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">Lust for Life,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"pt-PT\">by <\/span><span lang=\"it-IT\">Vincente Minnelli,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"pt-PT\">1956.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: <\/span><span lang=\"nl-NL\">Vincent Van Gogh<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> (1853 \u2013 1890).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The plot spins around the story of Vincent Van Gogh, whose tragic mystique places him among the best known painters in today\u2019s world. Noteworthy, other films were made about this artist and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2018\/sep\/03\/at-eternitys-gate-review-van-gogh-willem-dafoe-julian-schnabel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Julian Schnabel has recently finished one<\/a><!-- https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2018\/sep\/03\/at-eternitys-gate-review-van-gogh-willem-dafoe-julian-schnabel -->, arguing that his death was not suicide. Here the title role is convincingly played by Kirk Douglas. The narrative follows the Dutch\u2019s footsteps, from his days as a church minister in a poor mining community \u2013 where according to the film, he first drew his attention to true Christian ideals of humbleness \u2013 via his several love deceptions, his days in Paris, the legendary and infallible support of his brother Theo, his troubled days in Arles with Gauguin \u2013 think of the sliced ear \u2013 mental institutions and ultimately to his untimely death. The film is based on an homonymous novel by Irving Stone (1934), who by turn based his book in the abundant correspondence between the Van Gogh brothers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">My Left Foot,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by <\/span><span lang=\"es-ES\">Jim Sheridan,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">1989.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: <\/span>Christy Brown<span lang=\"en-US\"> (1932 \u2013 1981).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">A touching tale of <\/span>Christy Brown<span lang=\"en-US\">, inspired by his homonymous 1954 autobiography. Brown was an Irishman, born with cerebral palsy in an enormous and poor family in the early 1930s. The only part of his body he could control was his left foot, an ability that he eventually used to write \u2018mother\u2019 on the floor of his house with a piece of chalk; after this event, his skeptical father started to pay more attention to him, hailing <\/span>Christy<span lang=\"en-US\"> as a \u2018true Brown\u2019. With the ever present support of his mother, Christy goes on to use his left foot to paint, and with the help of his doctor \u2013 with whom he develops a romantic, albeit non-correspondent romantic interest \u2013 manages to exhibit his work at a local gallery, to critical acclaim. Daniel Day Lewis\u2019 exquisite performance as Christy Brown earned him several awards of Best Actor \u2013 including a BAFTA and an Oscar. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">Nightwatching,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by Peter Greenaway,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">2007.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: <\/span><span lang=\"nl-NL\">Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> (1606 \u2013 1669).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">As of Caravaggio, it\u2019s specially hard here to know true facts due to the historical distance of the subject matter. As of Jarman, Peter Greenaway makes use of dramatic artifices to embed such difficulty within his signature style. The whole film takes place mostly indoors, as if it could be a theatre play. Even when it\u2019s outdoors, there\u2019s a massive theatricality to it, in form of the lightening and the camera placing. Showcasing known events of the painter\u2019s private life, the film centres around the commissioning, and subsequent process of painting, of The Night Watch (original title Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq), viewed by many as <\/span><span lang=\"da-DK\">Rembrandt<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">\u2019s masterpiece. This monumental work, completed in 1642 after years on the making, shows the Captain\u2019s militia in near human dimensions, conveying a sense of movement never before seen in portraiture; it further attests to the Dutch absolute control of light. In Greenaway\u2019s narrative, it also hides a conspiracy theory of murder. The <\/span><span lang=\"nl-NL\">Rijksmuseum<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, which houses the work, has recently announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2018\/oct\/16\/the-night-watch-rembrandt-painting-to-be-restored-under-worlds-gaze\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">it will undergo a massive restoration process while on exhibition, in front of the public eye<!-- https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2018\/oct\/16\/the-night-watch-rembrandt-painting-to-be-restored-under-worlds-gaze -->.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">Pollock,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by Ed Harris,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">2000.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: Jackson Pollock (1912 \u2013 1956).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">This is a true labour of love, starring Ed Harris as director and as Jackson Pollock. The legend tells that Harris\u2019 father gave him a copy of Pollock\u2019s biography (Jackson Pollock: An American Saga by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith) in 1986, as he thought his son and the late artist looked alike. This event then triggered <\/span><span lang=\"it-IT\">Harris<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> to a project that took him over ten years to complete, to which \u2013 as a veritable method actor \u2013 he learned how to paint, smoked Pollock\u2019s cigarettes, slept in his bed and so forth. The results payed off, as in addition to the two men physical resemblance, Harris emulates the painter\u2019s every gesture, in a truly convincing role that didn\u2019t earned him an Academy Award, but earned one to <\/span><span lang=\"it-IT\">Marcia Gay Harden<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, who plays Pollock\u2019s patient wife Lee Krasner (for Best Supporting Actress). Nevertheless, Pollock\u2019s troubled life and abusive personality, which was cut short by a car accident where he was drunk and fast driving, is portrayed here with excellence. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span lang=\"en-US\">The Danish Girl,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">by <\/span><span lang=\"nl-NL\">Tom Hooper,&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">2015.<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Main subject: <\/span>Lili Elbe<span lang=\"en-US\">\/ <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Einar Wegener<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> (1882 \u2013 1931).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Based on an homonymous novel from 2000 by <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">David Ebershoff<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, this film has been heavily criticized precisely for the amount of artistic freedom that director Tom Hooper took in telling this story \u2013 an argument that had already been made against the book, and to which Hooper argued that his version is actually closer to reality than <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Ebershoff<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">\u2019s accounts. Elbe may not have been the first transgender in history, the dates of events may have been altered for narrative purposes, but nevertheless this is a captivating tale of a female soul trapped in a male\u2019s body. One indisputable historical fact is that artist <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Wegener<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> (played by <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Eddie Redmayne<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">) was asked to dress as a woman for his wife, portrait artist <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Gerda Wegener<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> (<\/span><span lang=\"sv-SE\">Alicia Vikander<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">), as one of her models couldn\u2019t come and sit for a painting. <\/span><span lang=\"de-DE\">Wegener<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> then starts to grow increasingly uncomfortable within his male body, which after a series of events, culminates in him agreeing to perform a sex-change operation. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our selection of art biopics follows up the list of art movies that we published a few months ago. But this new one calls for rainy afternoons&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1796],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mapping-the-artscape"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}