If there’s a topic you can count on to get a group of people talking around a dinner table, it’s the age old favorite, “What good movies have you seen?” Since we’re not spending a leisurely evening dining together, but rather grabbing a few minutes on the Internet here and there , I thought I’d narrow the field and ask, “What good films about artists have you seen?” Indeed, there are a lot of them out there but I’d love to hear what you’ve enjoyed watching. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments section below. If you’re like me and are trying come up with new ways to dodge the spring rain and thunder storms, here are a few favorites I’d offer up for discussion if we were sitting around a table together:
Still from the movie Wasteland
Wasteland: A 2011 documentary about Brazilian contemporary artist Vik Muniz who collaborates with the ‘pickers’ of recyclable materials who live and work in the garbage from Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
Still from the movie Pollock
Pollock: A 2000 biographical which tells the life story of influential American abstract painter Jackson Pollock. Ed Harris is Pollock and Jennifer Connelly as his artist wife, Lee Krasner.
Work by Andy Goldsworthy
Rivers & Tides: A 2001 documentary about the British artist Andy Goldsworthy who creates intricate and ephemeral sculptures from natural materials such as rocks, leaves, flowers, and icicles.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Basquiat: a 1996 biopic/drama film directed by fellow painter Julian Schnabel which is based on the life of American postmodernist/neo expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat who used his graffiti roots as a foundation to create collage-style paintings on canvas.
Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudi
Antonio Gaudi: A 1984 Japanese and Spanish documentary film by Hiroshi Teshigahara about the works of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. In this film with minimal narration, the director visits buildings and houses in Barcelona, and the Sagrada Família.
Eames: The Architect and The Painter
Eames: The Architect and The Painter: A 2011 documentary telling the story of the American husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames, widely considered America’s most important designers. Their creations include furniture, photography, interiors, and much more.
What films about artists do you recommend?
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