Art, Literature & Music
Journey through masterpieces, stories, genres, and cultural movements.
Some of the stories included
BeowulfThe epic of Beowulf was preserved only because a scholar copied the fire-damaged manuscript in 1786 before its pages crumbled away.
Pablo Picasso and the Invention of CubismHow Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque invented Cubism together, from Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907 to collage, until the First World War ended their partnership in 1914.
The Legend of the Holy GrailHow the Holy Grail grew from a mysterious dish in Chrétien de Troyes's unfinished poem of about 1190 into the cup of the Last Supper, and why a chalice in Valencia is claimed to be it.
Thelonious MonkThe pianist whose percussive style changed jazz, and who was then banned from the NYC clubs where the revolution was happening.
The Theremin's Strange LifeInventor Leon Theremin created a touchless instrument, spied for the Soviets in New York, and designed a bug hidden in the US Great Seal.
Fela Kuti and the Sound of RevolutionHow Fela Kuti created Afrobeat and used his song 'Zombie' to attack Nigeria's military, leading to the 1977 raid on his Kalakuta Republic.
Dante's InfernoDante's Inferno, the 14th-century poem he wrote in exile: a journey down through the nine circles of Hell, where each punishment mirrors its sin.__w1920.webp?v=1769092297192)
Andy WarholAndy Warhol, the Pittsburgh-born illustrator who made Pop Art famous with 32 Campbell's Soup cans and turned fame itself into his subject.
The History of StuckismThe Stuckist art movement was born from an insult when Tracey Emin told co-founder Billy Childish his paintings were "stuck!"
MichelangeloThe story of the sculptor who painted the Sistine ceiling, and how his work changed what art could do.
J.M.W. Turner, the Painter of LightThe life of J.M.W. Turner, the Covent Garden barber's son who became Britain's great painter of light, storms and steam, and left his work to the nation.
Vincent van GoghThe troubled life of Vincent van Gogh, from his decision to become an artist in 1880 to his lasting legacy.
The Bauhaus MovementThe story of the Bauhaus, the German design school founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, from Weimar and Dessau to its closure under the Nazis and its teachers' move to America.
The Story of CaravaggioThe life of the painter Caravaggio, whose violent life ended in 1610 after he killed a man and became a fugitive from Rome.
Josephine BakerThe life of Josephine Baker: Paris star of the 1920s, French intelligence agent in the Second World War, civil rights speaker in 1963, and in 2021 the first Black woman honoured in the Panthéon.
Leonardo da Vinci — Genius of the RenaissanceThe life of Leonardo da Vinci, from illegitimate son in Vinci to the Last Supper, the Mona Lisa, his anatomical studies and his final years in France.
Frida Kahlo: Paint, Pain, and PowerThe life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, from the 1925 bus crash that left her bedridden to the self-portraits that made her world-famous.
Punk's Jubilee Boat: The Sex Pistols on the ThamesThe Sex Pistols' Thames boat party on the Queen's Silver Jubilee, 7 June 1977, ended in a police raid and 11 arrests as 'God Save the Queen' hit the charts.
RumiThe 13th-century scholar turned mystic poet after meeting a wandering dervish, and whose Islamic faith is often erased in popular translation.
Homer's IliadHomer's Iliad, the Greek epic of Achilles' rage in the tenth year of the Trojan War, from his quarrel with Agamemnon to the death and burial of Hector.
The History of AnimationHow animation developed from Victorian optical toys and Gertie the Dinosaur to Disney's Snow White and Pixar's Toy Story, including how Walt Disney lost his first star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
George EliotThe life of Mary Ann Evans, who wrote as George Eliot, from her break with her father's church to Adam Bede, Middlemarch and her unconventional partnership with George Henry Lewes.
The Harlem RenaissanceHow Black writers, thinkers and musicians made 1920s Harlem a cultural capital, from Alain Locke's "New Negro" and Langston Hughes to Duke Ellington, until the Depression and the 1935 riot ended the era.
The Creation of Don QuixoteHow Miguel de Cervantes, a soldier and tax collector, wrote the world's first modern novel after conceiving it in a Seville prison.
William ShakespeareThe life of William Shakespeare, from Stratford glover's son to London playwright, the Globe and Hamlet, and the 1623 First Folio that preserved 18 of his plays.
The BeatlesFrom 1960 to 1970, the Beatles revolutionized popular music, a journey that began in the clubs of Hamburg and ended on a London rooftop.
The Story of Shakespeare's HamletExplore Shakespeare's Hamlet, a tragedy triggered when a ghost reveals the king was murdered by his brother, Claudius.
Hokusai's Great WaveThe story of Hokusai's 1831 woodblock print, made with a new Prussian blue pigment and sold for the price of a bowl of noodles.
Salvador Dalí — Madness, Ego, and SurrealismThe life of Salvador Dalí, the Spanish Surrealist painter: his family, his muse Gala, The Persistence of Memory, his break with the Surrealists and his museum in Figueres.
MozartMozart's life from child prodigy to freelance composer in Vienna, and the truth behind his mysterious Requiem and common grave.
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