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From fictional biopics to feature documentaries and stand-up specials, we bring you our selection of what to watch. 

Still from Frida, a film about the life of Frida Kahlo (2002)

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)

Director Alison Klayman received a special jury prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her provocative and eye-opening documentary film about the life and career of one of art’s most misunderstood characters, Ai Weiwei. Never Sorry explains why and how the Chinese artist has used his work to address social injustice, corruption, and the repression of free speech in his country of origin, China. Weiwei’s artistic journey has been a tumultuous path, involving countless encounters with the autocratic Chinese government, a controversial incarceration, and a subsequent, triumphant release. Never Sorry opens in Weiwei’s studio in Beijing, known as 258 Fake, which is home to over 40 cats. Klayman then presents two career highlights: Weiwei installing his at the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2009, and his piece at the Tate Modern a year later. In between the artist is physically attacked by the police in Chengdu, his million-dollar Shanghai studio is razed by the Chinese government, and he is detained in 2011 at the airport in Beijing. The film is a fascinating examination of the role of the artist in a brutal authoritarian state.

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012), Dir. Alison Klayman

Frida (2002)

Frida Kahlo is an art world hero with an incredible life story, so it’s hard to imagine a biopic could do justice to the reality of her life. Yet Frida does exactly that. Julie Taymor's film is surreal, tense and beautiful. Having just won an astounding 11 Tony awards for her stage production of The Lion King on Broadway, Taymor decided to pour her creative energy into a film about the illustrious Mexican painter, whose legacy was undergoing a renaissance. In May 1990 one of Kahlo's self-portraits sold at Sotheby's for $1.5 million — the highest price ever paid at auction for a Latin American painting at the time. The excitement around the artist was continuing to grow — Kahlo was being reconfigured as a feminist icon, as well as a master of 20th century magical realism. Taymor stepped in and made a beautiful film which cleverly depicts both the professional and private life of the Mexican surrealist, whilst paying homage to the visual distinctiveness of Kahlo’s work. Throughout the film, scenes begin as paintings, before bursting into life as live-action scenes with actors. Salma Hayek gives a breathtaking performance as Kahlo, whilst Alfred Molina shines as her husband, the artist Diego Rivera. The film tells the story of Kahlo’s life, from the devastating car accident that left her in chronic pain at an early age, through her tumultuous relationship with Rivera — during which she had affairs with both men and women, including communist leader Leon Trotsky — up to her tragic death following her first solo exhibition. A magical film that captures the essence of a magical painter.

Frida (2002), Dir. Julie Taymor

Basquiat (1996)

A stunning biopic of the American neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, Basquiat tells the story of the artist’s meteoric rise from a young street artist (who literally lived on the streets in New York City), through to his status as one of the most highly respected artists in the world, up to his tragic death from a heroin overdose at the age of 27. Interestingly, Basquiat was the first feature film about a painter made by a painter — written and directed by the artist Julian Schnabel, the film thus offers a valuable insider’s perspective, as Schnabel draws on his own experiences as a neo-expressionist painter who worked in the 80s New York scene. Bringing Schnabel’s artistic vision to life is a truly fantastic cast, headed up by Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat and David Bowie as his mentor Andy Warhol. Basquiat also features memorable performances from Benicio del Toro, Gary Oldman, Courtney Love, and Dennis Hopper, who help to capture the electric atmosphere of the New York art scene in the 80s. The film is a great way into the life of a highly underrated artist, and a fantastic lens for the scene itself.

Basquiat (1996), Dir. Julian Schnabel

Paris is Burning (1991)

Jennie Livingston’s breathtaking documentary feature, Paris is Burning, is a fantastic exploration of (and was for many, and introduction to) the drag subculture of New York City, and in particular, the art of voguing. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, the film chronicles the ball culture of New York, and the African-American, Latino, and LGBTQ+ communities involved in creating it. The film is an invaluable record of the end of the so-called "Golden Age" of New York drag balls, as well as a thoughtful and studied exploration of race, class, gender, and sexuality in late 20th century America. Released over a year before Madonna popularised the act of voguing with her hit-single, Vogue, Livingston’s film documents the origins of the dance, and its importance within drag culture. The film documents the expressive artistry of the ball competitions, in which contestants are judged on criteria such as the "realness" of their drag, the beauty of their clothing and their dancing ability. By treating drag as a lens to these diverse communities, and the myriad gender identities contained within, the film was among the first to place drag culture firmly in the eye of the mainstream.

Paris is Burning (1991), Dir. Jenni Livingston

Mr. Turner (2014)

Mike Leigh’s biopic of the beloved British landscape painter, JMW Turner, is a masterpiece in its own right. The film shows the artist from many angles — as a painter unparalleled in skill and talent, but at the same time, an innately human character, whose life didn’t play out exactly as planned. In Leigh’s own words, Turner was “a great artist: a radical, revolutionary painter… I felt there was scope for a film examining the tension between this very mortal, flawed individual, and the epic work, the spiritual way he had of distilling the world." Timothy Spall won Best Actor at Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of the iconic painter, and Leigh was widely praised for his detailed and vivid depiction of Britain’s 19th-century art world — indeed, watching the film is like stepping into that world and experiencing it for yourself. As with many great art films, Leigh puts the artist’s work at the heart of the story. As film critic Mark Kermode notes, Mr. Turner is a "portrait of a man wrestling light with his hands as if it were a physical element: tangible, malleable, corporeal." A must-see film for any lovers of Britain’s most important Romantic painter.

Mr. Turner (2014), Dir. Mike Leigh

The Legend of Leigh Bowery (2002)

Filmmaker Charles Atlas documents the life and work of the infamous performance artist Leigh Bowery, up to his death from AIDS-related complications in 1994. Part fashion designer, part performance artist, part club promoter, Leigh Bowery was a unique and influential creation of his own making. An icon of the 80s London scene, Bowery was also a hugely significant model and muse for the painter Lucian Freud, whose portraits of Bowery are often considered among his most accomplished works. Bowery was a towering figure — shocking, humorous, enthralling, and very much ahead of his time. This captivating documentary features archival footage from Bowery’s life and performances, as well as intimate interviews with Bowery's family and friends. Watching the film will make you realize what an important influencer Bowery was, and how is underground art world came to transform the mainstream, as he had profound effects on many of the artists that came after him. Provocative, unpredictable and beautiful, the documentary does well to document the life of such a complex artistic character.

The Legend of Leigh Bowery (2002), Dir. Charles Atlas

Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies (2008)

In this highly discursive documentary, Arne Glimcher argues that film, from its origins in the days of Thomas Edison and the Lumière Brothers, had a crucial and formative influence on Modern painting, in particular the movement of Cubism. Using startling visual comparisons, Glimcher attempts to prove how Picasso and Braque, who founded Cubism in 1907, aimed to incorporate the tenets of film — notably its revolutionary combination of time, space and motion — into the practice of fine art. Glimcher argues that by anatomizing motion and endeavoring to adopt multiple perspectives simultaneously, the Cubists were attempting to co-opt the core principles of filmmaking, and transform painting forever. There to help Glimcher make his argument are constellations of talking heads, from the legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese (who also produced the film) to the video performance artist Robert Whitman, and even the artist-turned-Basquiat-director Julian Schnabel — all of whom discuss the mutually influential relationship between film and Cubism. Whether or not their argument is convincing, you must decide, but the film is definitely worth watching for any fans of Cubism and/or cinema.

Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies (2008), Dir. Arne Glimcher

Andrei Rublev (1966)

Andrei Rublev is a 1966 Soviet historical/biographical drama film directed by the acclaimed Soviet film director, Andrei Tarkovsky. The fictional film is loosely based on the real-life story of Andrei Rublev, the 15th-century Russian icon painter, and seeks to depict a highly realistic portrait of 15th century Russia. According to film critic Jim Hoberman, Tarkovsky portrays the artist Andrei Rublev as "a world-historic figure" and treats "Christianity as an axiom of Russia’s historical identity" during a volatile period of Russian history that ultimately resulted in the emergence of the Tsardom of Russia. Savva Yamshchikov, a famous Russian art historian and restorer, worked as a scientific consultant of the film to ensure the historicity and realism of the medieval art world were accurately rendered. Although it is now considered one of the greatest films of all time, Andrei Rublev was not released within the Soviet Union until many years after it was completed. This is because the film addresses the importance of artistic freedom, religion, political ambiguity, and the making of art under a repressive regime. Tarkovsky’s story of an artist in medieval Russia contains many subversive parallels to the experience of making art in Soviet Russia at the time — it is a striking and ambitious reflection on the relationship between artistry and the times in which we live.

Andrei Rublev (1966), Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky

Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2017)

Hannah Gadsby is the comedian that everyone is talking about. Having been the first comedian ever to win the Best Show award at all three major comedy festivals (Edinburgh, Melbourne, Adelaide), her Netflix stand-up special, , has now gone viral, introducing her work to an international audience. Nanette is a hilarious, distressing and compelling discussion of gender and sexual identity, all packaged through the lens of art criticism. Having originally trained as an art critic, Gadsby holds a degree in Art History and Curatorship. She uses her insights to open up discussion around the nature of genius, arguing that the art world’s reification of the ‘troubled genius figure’ is highly problematic. According to Gadsby, as art lovers, we need to reevaluate the work of earlier artists within the context of contemporary moral standards. She singles out Picasso as a painter whose (admittedly impressive) work should surely be overshadowed by the fact that he mistreated women throughout his life, and notoriously had sex with an underage girl, Marie-Thérèse Walter. Indeed, traditional art criticism tends to justify these behaviors as part of his genius. One of the leading Picasso experts, John Richardson, has promoted this narrative, arguing: “That whole business of the submissiveness of his women made for great art.” Their willingness to destroy themselves for the greater good of Picasso’s art is, for Richardson, both “noble and wonderful”. For Gadsby this is simply not the case; Picasso is an important painter, but undeniably a violent misogynist and sexual deviant, who should be remembered for what he was. Many would argue: ‘you need to separate the man from the art’. In response, Gadsby quips, “How about you take Picasso’s name off his little paintings there and see how much his doodles are worth at auction?” Nanette is a riotous, yet challenging, foray into the experience of being gay and female within a violent patriarchy, as crystallized by the problematic values enshrined within art criticism.

Nanette (2017), Written and performed by Hannah Gadsby

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a mesmerizing documentary film by Werner Herzog about the ancient Chauvet Cave in southern France, which contains the oldest human-painted images yet discovered. Many of the paintings in the cave were hand painted over 32,000 years ago, and depict human scenes, and animals such as cave lions, panthers, and running horses. Having received permission to film in the cave from the French Minister of Culture, Herzog was nonetheless forced to film under heavy restrictions — he was only allowed three crew members, who had to wear special suits and shoes to protect the cave from erosion, and because of the near-toxic levels of radon and carbon dioxide found within, nobody can stay in the cave for more than a few hours per day. The film features unprecedented imagery of the artwork, as well as the cave itself, and is laced with awe-inspiring interviews featuring the scientists who work on the cave. These dedicated specialists speculate about the lives and artistic impulses of the ancient humans who produced the paintings, with one scientist revealing that since he has started to work on the cave, every night he dreams of cave lions, painted into his mind. Although Herzog’s aim is simply to document the Aurignacian art, the film itself becomes a beautiful and meditative work, that questions what it is that underlies the innately human desire to make art.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Dir. Werner Herzog

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