X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Art of the Western World

The 18 original 30-minute episodes are consolidated to 9 one-hour episodes on the U.S. DVD: (1) "The Classical Ideal": The origins of Western art are traced to ancient Greece and Rome. (2) "A White Garment of Churches": Romanesque and Gothic churches and the effect of monasticism and pilgrimage on art and architecture. (3) "The Early Renaissance in Italy and the North". (4) "The High Renaissance": Includes Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. (5) "Realms of Light": The Baroque period, including Bernini, Caravaggio, Velasquez, Rembrandt. (6) "An Age of Reason, an Age of Passion": Rococo, Neoclassicism, Romanticism. (7) "Realists, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists". (8) "Into the Twentieth Century" ; Fauves, Cubists, Surrealists, etc. (9) "In Our Own Time": Post-war period, Abstract Expression, Post-Modernism, etc. Pollock, Warhol, Oldenburg, etc. Internationalization in the 1970s and 1980s.

Loading. Please wait...

Content not available in your region? ExpressVPN can help you stay connected wherever you are. Get 4 extra months FREE with TV Guide's exclusive offer.

Cast & Crew See All

Michael Wood
Self - Presenter
Germano Celant
Self - Art Historian
Rosalind Krauss
Self - Art Historian

Season 2 Episode Guide See All

Episode 1

The Classical Ideal

Mon, Oct 2, 198957 mins

The Greeks created a classical ideal against which all subsequent art would be measured; Rome's genius lay in architecture and civil engineering. Featured: the Parthenon, the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, the Pantheon, the sarcophagus of Juius Bassus.

Where to Watch

You May Also Like See All

Blue Planet II
D-Day: The Unheard Tapes
America to Me
Planet Earth II

Popular Shows See all shows

Call the Midwife

15 Seasons
Midwives in East London in the 1950s, experience the growing pains of life and love.
81   Metascore
2012 Drama, Documentary

Nova

53 Seasons
NOVA brings you stories from the frontlines of science and engineering, answering the big questions of today and tomorrow, from how our ancestors lived, to whether parallel universes exist, to how technology will transform our lives. Visit the official website to watch full-length documentaries, or explore our world through short-form video, on our digital publication NOVA Next.
1974 Documentary

Cook's Country

18 Seasons
Discovers the best of American cuisine through extensive kitchen testing.
2008 Documentary

The American Revolution

1 Season
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a new six-part, 12-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt examines how America’s founding turned the world upside-down.
80   Metascore
2025 Documentary

Vienna Blood

4 Seasons
1900s Vienna: a hotbed of philosophy, science,and art, where a clash of cultures and ideas collide in the city's grand cafes and opera houses. Max Liebermann is a brilliant young English student of famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. When Max comes into contact with Oskar Rheinhardt, a Detective Inspector struggling with a strange case, he agrees to help him investigate a series of unusual and disturbing murders.
72   Metascore
2019 Suspense, Drama, Documentary

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

12 Seasons
For more than a decade, renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has helped to expand America’s sense of itself, stimulating a national conversation about identity with humor, wisdom, and compassion. Professor Gates has explored the ancestry of dozens of influential people from diverse backgrounds, taking millions of viewers deep into the past to reveal the connections that bind us all.
2012 Documentary, Suspense