Thursday, February 2, 2017

Thursday Movie Picks-Movies about Artists


Ok I'm loving this week's theme because I love art! I love reading about artists and I love reading about their works so whenever a film comes on about an artist I want to see it. There are some I have not seen which is horrible ( Pollock, Frida)  but I will always try to watch any that come around my way. I have also decided to go the more biographical route about artists that really did exist rather than about a film about a painter. Now, head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to see what the others have chosen.

1. REMBRANDT-1936


Rembrandt is one of my favourite artists and this is one of my favourite films starring the great Charles Laughton as the famous painter. It details his fame, the death of his beloved first wife and his fall from grace  since he chose to paint what he wanted to paint not what was expected. He found solace in his last marriage  played by his real life wife, Elsa Lancester. I loved the lighting of this film which truly does evoke the Rembrandt lighting that one would often see in silent films. I have been enriched to see many of his works especially the great Night Watch and this film really helps showcased what this man believed in and how rose to great heights only to die a pauper.

2. THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING-2003


This gem stars Colin Firth as the famed painter whom we know very, very little about and have so few of his great paintings. It is not a true biopic since this is more an idea of what might have happened since the girl in this famous painting seems to pop up in other paintings. This girl is played by Scarlet Johansson and she does a great job playing a member of the help to Vermeer. Vermeer is in a marriage that is difficult to say the least because of his wife's jealous ways. The cinematography is also wonderful because it uses the Blues and yellows that Vermeer loved. There is a sensuousness to this film without showing anything more than Johanssen's hair when she takes off her bonnet( which was quite seductive back in that day).

3. RENOIR-2012


My hubby and I were able to see this French film at the theatre that no longer is around(bummer). It takes place in 1915 when the famed painter is nearing the end of his days and his young son, the future famous French Film director, Jean Renoir, is trying to find out who he is after he is wounded in the First World War. A young lady comes to Renoir's home in the country to be his model and he finds his final muse. Renoir suffered from severe debilitating rheumatoid arthritis in his later years and would often have to tape the paint brush to his hand since he could not hold the brush any more but he still had to paint. The young girl becomes the young Renoir's lover and she seems to be their muse and their saviour even though she also seemed to be a bit of a bitch actually. In fact Jean Renoir married her ( Andree Heuschling) and she starred in many of his early films. Again, the cinematography is so beautiful and evokes the impressionistic beauty of Renoir's works.

What films can you think of? Do you love art and what style is your favourite?

3 great artists...






85 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed Tim's Vermeer. Have you seen it? I didn't get to the Hague last year to see TGWTPE. Pity. Saw the Night Watch. I do enjoy movies about artists, especially those that are documentaries. Recently watched Van Gogh: Brush with Genius.

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    1. I really want to see Tim's Vermeer and always watch any documentary about artists. I think I did see that documentary about Van Gogh.

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  2. That's a tough one. I can name a couple recent ones - Turner and Pollock - but I've not seen either one.

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    1. Turner is OK-I didn't care for the actor portraying him, he seemed to grunt a lot. I still have to see Pollock

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  3. Hi, Birgit!

    Mrs. Shady and I both love art and would surely be interested in watching these three biographical movies about artists. I haven't seen any of them but they all look like fine films. I loved Charles Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and would enjoy seeing his portrayal of Rembrandt. I am especially interested in watching The Girl With the Pearl Earring which I have just nicknamed "Fifty Shades of Scarlett" :) The Renoir film also looks like a great one. Mrs. S and I favor Impressionism. We are fortunate to live close to the Ringling Art Museum in Sarasota and have visited several times. We also appreciate surrealist art and have visited the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg which is also near our home.

    I can recommend the Jennifer Connelly movie Pollock (2000) about the abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

    Happy Thursday, dear friend BB!

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    1. You will enjoy Rembrandt when you get the chance to see it. Love the nickname for Girl with the Pearl earring and I own the DVD. Renoir is another gem that I enjoyed seeing. Love Dali...Have you ever seen the Hitchcock film "Spellbound"? The dream sequence was painted by Dali. I still have to see Pollock

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  4. I also chose Girl With The Pearl Earring. That's such a wonderful little film, I'm glad to see it get some love.

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    1. Totally love this film. It is so sensual about an artist we know so little about

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  5. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to art, but I do enjoy looking at paintings of nature - Cézanne, Winslow Homer and Van Gogh. Thanks for a great post, Birgit.

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    1. The impressionists are so popular because they did nature, people, nudes...just about anything and often very colourful. I also love Seurat, Monet and Toulouse Lautrec

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  6. I'm not a big fan of art but I have an appreciation of it. When I lived in Europe one of my favorite trips was visiting the Louvre in Paris. Simply amazing.

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    1. The Louvre is amazing and I had heard if you just spent 5 seconds at each art piece it would take you a year to see it all

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  7. Wow, I'm crap outta luck this week. Not sure I can even recall an art movie that was totally about art. Plenty in movies here and there.

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    1. There is The Agony and the Ecstasy with Charlton Heston, Lust For Life with Kirk Douglas, and then you have movies which showcase an artist from An American in Paris to portrait of Jennie

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  8. I still haven't seen "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." *sigh*

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    1. It's so beautiful in so many ways...I think you would like it

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  9. oooooooooooh Renoir is such a gorgeous movie. Somehow I had never even heard of this Rembrandt movie - LOVE Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester!

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    1. Yes, Renoir was a really beautiful film. I'm surprised you have never seen Rembrandt so you need to change that:)

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  10. Don't think I've seen a single one of these movies! Thanks for making me aware of them!

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    1. Oh I can see you be inspired by them when you create your cards

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  11. It probably won't come as a surprise but I've seen all of these. I usually see movies about artists, even the bad movies.

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    1. I knew you would have seen them or at least heard of them. What did you think of Rembrandt...the film that is?

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  12. I just watched Paterson - he's a poet, she's an artist. Very cool flick.

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    1. I e got to look this one up. Never heard of it

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  13. I haven't seen any of these but they all seems interesting, and I've been meaning to watch them all.

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    1. Oh enjoy all of them because I think you would like them

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  14. The only one of these that I've seen is The Girl With The Pearl Earring. I liked it, but the book was better. I love Frida. I think I've watched it three or four times, and I also saw a documentary about her. When I finally saw a Frida Kahlo painting at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, I wanted to stare at it forever. I also like Pollock and Big Eyes.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I didn't know it was a book...how daft am I?:) I still have to see the films you mentioned and they are on my list to see. I have to admit, I can't stand the art of Big Eyes...always hated those faces with the huge newt eyes

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  15. I only saw one - The Girl with the Pearl Earring, but I found it excellent!

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    1. I found it excellent from the acting to the cinematography

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  16. Birgit, These look great. Someone on the hop today featured The Girl with the Pearl Earring and I think I'd like to see this one and perhaps your last movie pick, Renoir which happens to be on Amazon Prime. I may try to catch it next week while I use my elliptical. We'll see. I did enjoy your clever approach to sharing your featured painters artwork. Nicely done! Have a good evening and thank you for visiting today. I'm looking forward to being involved with this hop every week if I can.

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    1. Thanks for joining in:) I hope you can catch Renoir because it's excellent and so is The Girl with the Pearl Earring. I am also glad you liked that I put up the artwork from these great artists

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    2. Birgit, Renoir is on Amazon Prime for streaming. I added the movie to my WatchList and hopefully will see it soon. It's funny, I featured "Big Eyes" and it wasn't available for streaming but then this weekend it popped up on Netflix. lol

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  17. I went to the Rembrandt museum when I last went to Amsterdam. Amazing works of art. Endless collection almost. Go there if you were to ever find yourself in Amsterdam. I haven't seen any of your picks though.

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    1. I have been there and it was so great to see so many of his works. I especially loved the betrothal of the man and woman but can't remember the name of it at the moment. I also went to his home which was nice to see.

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  18. I think I'd add Lust for Life and The Wolf at the Door.

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    1. Lust for Life is great and Kirk really did look like Van Gogh. I haven't seen the other film you mentioned though. I have to look it up

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  19. Haven't seen any of these. Been meaning to see TGwtPE ever since it came out.

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    1. It's a great movie so I hope you get to see it

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  20. Rembrandt!!! Argh I kicked around so much trying to think of films this week and this one never crossed my mind. You can't go wrong with a Charles Laughton film especially when Elsa Lanchester joined him.

    Loved Girl with the Pearl Earring. Beautiful looking with wonderful performances...I love Colin Firth.

    I hadn't heard of Renoir before today but saw it elsewhere. I'm going to check it out.

    I do love art, Paul Cezanne is my favorite painter.

    I had a bit of a tough go this week for some reason. I had a blank coming up with any I loved so I went with two obscure ones that I like a famous Kirk Douglas film that I've always found a challenge to get in to.

    The Naked Maja (1958)-Tale of the renowned painter Francisco Goya (Anthony Franciosa) and his passionate affair with the Duchess of Alba (Ava Gardner) , purportedly the model for the title painting. Set against Spain’s war with France and the Inquisition, though shot in Italy, the film is a visual treat with a good performance by Gardner but missing a certain spark, perhaps due to the fact that the stars detested each other behind the scenes.

    Lust for Life (1956)-Biography of Vincent Van Gogh with an intense, driven performance by near lookalike Kirk Douglas as the tortured artist. Since he wasn’t acknowledged until after his death the film is a relentlessly grim look at the cost and weight of unrecognized genius. Overlong but loaded with works by the master.

    The Moon and Sixpence (1942)-Inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin and based on the Somerset Maugham novel, the film tells the story of Charles Strickland (George Sanders) who throws his staid life as a married stockbroker away to run away to the South Seas to paint with nary a thought to the consequences. Well-acted with a superior cast but the lead character is an almost completely despicable person so it’s difficult to care too much for his story or fate.

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    1. Glad you like my picks and I love Laughton as well. I love Colin Firth and ...well, that about says it. I hope you get to see Renoir soon. I love the look of the film because it seems to evoke the colours and feeling of the Renoir paintings. It's also cool that it show a young Jean Renoir and his future wife, actress and model for his father.

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  21. That Renoir movie sounds very interesting. I saw a movie about an artist recently, but can't remember anything about it other than the wife finally got fed up with the husband and took the children away. I like the impressionists, Chagall, Georgia O'Keefe, and Edward Hopper.

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    1. Hopper is quite cool and his one painting is often imitated( the diner one. I am not a fan of Chagall or O'Keefe but I do appreciate their works. I don't know the film you are mentioning

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  22. I haven't seen any of those. I noticed someone already mentioned Tim's Vermeer. Yes, see that. It's awesome!

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    1. I want to see that film about Vermeer...sounds quite interesting

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  23. I've seen the Vermeer one but not the other two.

    Frida, Pollock, Basquiat, La Belle Noiseuse, Surviving Picasso, I Shot Andy Warhol, Factory Girl.

    Favorite style? I think it's easier to pick which ones I don't like: abstract, still life, portraits that aren't unique.

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    1. You picked a few I have not seen anywhere and now...on the list:) yes, I am not a fan of abstract or modern art where paint is just splattered...I can do that myself. You must love Arcimboldo..

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  24. Haven't watched any of these, but The Girl with Pearl Earring and Renoir seems popular this week. My picks are more from recent years, though.

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    1. What's funny is the 2 last films. Thought were recent...at least for me:)

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  25. Frida is a great movie. I got to watch it in college and we had to write a paper on it. Why do teachers think that watching movies in class is work?

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    1. You are so right about watching movies in class....I think they do this so they can go have a glass or two of wine.

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  26. Haven't seen these, Birgit, and would love to. I loved Amadeus and My Left Foot. I found Beethoven on YouTube and have it on my to-watch list. I am going to try and catch the ones you've mentioned--they're popular enough!

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    1. Hello Vidya! Immortal Beloved is a great film and Gary Oldman deserved an Oscar nod for his performance. Hope you get to watch it soon.

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  27. Girl with the pearl earrings is one of my FAVES... although my friends and I giggled about the room filled with naked paintings and dubbed it a "Masturbatory". hahaha

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  28. I've never heard of any of these films, but I certainly know the art that inspired these films. You chose some wonderful films AND some great art, too.

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    1. Thank you and yes, they are some of the most famous painters ever...I would say in the top 10

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  29. I haven't seen any of these- but I have heard of The Girl with the Pearl Earring. I never got around to seeing it- but I am adding it to my very long list. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. I have a long, long list as well and it keeps getting longer:)

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  30. I didn't see Rembrandt but it sounds fascinating.
    Hope you're having a great weekend.
    Hugs

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    1. Rembrandt is an excellent film and I think you would enjoy it because of the period and the way it was lit. Wishing you a wonderful weekend too.

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  31. Only seen The Girl with the Pearl Earring which I loved. My thing for Colin Firth helped (sighs). What's that one about Van Gogh, I've seen that?

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    1. Did you see Lust for Life? This is with Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh. Yes, anything with Colin Firth make my heart sigh

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  32. You are really knowledgeable about films. Without Googling, I'd never think of a film about a painter. I guess that's coz they're dramas and that's not my thing. I love your picks and Cathy's too. (I just came from her blog.) Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thank you so much:) I love art and would look at books about artists even when I was 5 years old. I knew I wanted to do these 3 films but did google to see the others. I knew about Lust For Life as well but I haven't seen it in years

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  33. Now I really want to see Rembrandt, because I always think of Elsa Lancaster as the Bride of Frankenstein and would like to see her in a different light! These are all outstanding reviews filled with vivid imagery! I think you've found another niche, Birgit!

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    1. Oh thank you! I'm glad you like my review and Elsa is so pretty here and so perfect with her husband, Harley Laughton. She is also great in WITNESS for the Persecution.

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  34. BIRGIT, by "Artists" I assume we mean painters or sculptors, etc., and NOT musicians.

    If that's the case, then I'll add a vote for 'LUST FOR LIFE'. I am not a Kirk Douglas fan, but Vincent van Gogh is my second favorite painter ever, and was one fascinating human being / artist. I could relate to him in several ways from an early age.

    There are several movies mentioned here that I have not seen but will have to make it a point to do so, because I am a big fan of painting.

    I want to cheat a little bit and mention a favorite movie that includes an artist but is not primarily about that artist. I have in mind 'WHAT A WAY TO GO' with Shirley MacLaine. It's a wacky, funny movie and there's one segment in the movie in which Paul Newman plays a crazy artist of abstract "art". He was totally, amusingly out-of-control. "Great, fun movie for the whole family!" (Gene Kelly actually plays my favorite character in the movie, though.)

    ~ D-FensDogG
    Check out my new blog @
    (Link:] Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...

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    1. Yes, I do believe they meant painters but someone did pick Across The Universe. I have yet to see What A Way To Go. It's one film that...who am I kidding, one of many films, that I have yet to see.

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  35. Loved the artwork at the end. Great artists indeed! Haven't seen Rembrandt or Renoir but I do love Girl with a Pearl Earring.

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    1. The art is beautiful and so lovely to look. I love Rembrandt

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  36. I loved the movie Frida with Salma Hayek. Did you see it?

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    1. I have not seen it but want to and it is on my list

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  37. I haven't seen these movies but I wrote down the names. I love are too and these sound like incredible pictures.

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    1. These are great films and I hope you get a chance to see it

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  38. I'd like to watch this 3 to see for myself.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  39. Pearl Earring is another one I'm not familiar with but that looks intriguing.
    Hope you are having a great day.

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    1. It's a great story and love the look of that film and the acting is great. Pain...not much more to say

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  40. Forbidden Planet is a form of art to me because everyone in the sci-fi movie producing business copied variants of it and called it their own. The star wars opening crawl, star treks futuristic sound effects, I must watch F.P. again.

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    1. I love the unique way you looked at this because it is quite artistic and ahead of its time. Wait for next week:)

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  41. Birgit, I love the artist films and wish I could see the Renoir. The figures with children have always intrigued me. Because I have paintings as an essential part of my novel, Night Watch, I titled it after the Rembrandt painting. That was a mistake because so many other books have the same title. Thank you for the wonderful post.

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    1. I hope you can see Renoir because you will love the cinematography of it and use of colour.

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  42. I don't know if I've seen any movies about artists. I certainly haven't heard of any of these that you mentioned. I did watch The Artist, but that's not really the same thing. I might have to see one of these and give myself some culture. :)

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  43. I did not know Renoir had to tape his brush to his hand in later years to paint. A true artist.
    Fascinating.

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