SIMON SCHAMA'S POWER OF ART takes viewers on a sweeping cinematic journey to the turning points in the lives of eight artists and a work that defined the career of each. Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) and Wheatfield with Crows, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Guernica, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) and David with the Head of Goliath, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) and The Conspiracy of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis, Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) and The Death of Marat, J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) and Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), and Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and the Seagram murals.

Book:

The Power of Art propels us on an eye-opening, breathtaking odyssey, zooming in on eight extraordinary masterpieces, from Caravaggio's David and Goliath to Picasso's Guernica. Schama closes in on intense make-or-break turning points in the lives of eight great artists who, under extreme stress, created something unprecedented, altering the course of art forever.

The embattled heroes - Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko - each in his own resolute way, faced crisis with steadfast defiance, pitting passion and conviction against scorn and short-sightedness.

With vivid storytelling and powerfully evocative descriptive passages, Schama explores the dynamic personalities of the artists and the spirit of the times they lived through, capturing the flamboyant theatre of bourgeois life in Amsterdam, the passion and paranoia of Revolutionary Paris, and the carnage and pathos of Civil War Spain.