Radiance
Simon Schama starts his meditation on colour and civilisation with the great Gothic cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres. He then moves to 16th century Venice where masterpieces such as Giovanni Bellini's San Zaccaria altarpiece and Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne contested the assumption that drawing would always be superior to colouring. As the Baroque took hold in enlightenment Europe another Venetian, Giambattista Tiepolo, created a ceiling fresco Apollo and the Four Continents at the Bishop's palace in Würzburg.
In a glorious sequence Simon celebrates this grand opera of light, colour, and dancing line: a dizzying lift-off into 18th century elation. But if light could open the gates of ecstasy it could also drop art into the abyss. Francisco Goya began by working in the Venetian tradition but in the last years of his life his Black Paintings drained colour from the world of light. The art of colour discovered a new mission which somehow sustained the old: how to make life in cities bearable, even beautiful. Simon travels to Japan to where in the 18th and 19th century an urban explosion generated a demand for cheap, mass produced woodblock prints suffused with dazzling colour. These prints by artists such as Hokusai were hugely influential on the impressionists and postimpressionists.
Simon ends the film in Matisse's great chapel at Vence, where colour is used – against a backdrop of the Second World War - once more to enrapture, enlighten and as a path to God.
Trailer
Recently Updated Shows
Chicago Fire
No job is more stressful, dangerous or exhilarating than those of the Firefighters, Rescue Squad and Paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51. These are the courageous men and women who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death. These are their stories.
FBI
FBI is a fast-paced drama about the inner workings of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These first-class agents, including Special Agent Maggie Bell and her partner, Special Agent Omar Adom 'OA' Zidan, bring all their talents, intellect and technical expertise on major cases in order to keep New York and the country safe.
Chicago P.D.
District 21 of the Chicago Police Department is made up of two distinctly different groups. There are the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head to head with the city's street crimes. And there's the Intelligence Unit, the team that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond. These are their stories.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society
Grosse Pointe Garden Society follows four members of a suburban garden club who find their lives intertwined by scandal, mischief and a shared secret - a murder no one wants to talk about. As dark truths begin to rot their lives under the surface, they struggle to remain as perfect as the flowers blooming in their garden above.
Moonshiners
The secret and illegal world of moonshining stretches all across Appalachia raking in a pretty penny for those who choose to shine. Moonshiners will go to unprecedented extremes in their efforts to hide their still sites and cloak their distribution networks, some can hide in plain sight. With new styles of shine being tested and sold there is a king's ransom waiting for those bold enough to grab it. But those who enforce the law are wise to shiner deceptions and more determined than ever to catch them red handed and in the act of making Moonshine. The day of reckoning may be around the corner, but don't sell the Moonshiners short. Each has a keen understanding of how to stay one step ahead of the law in their region, and in this ongoing cat and mouse game you never know who will end up in the trap.