Civilizations

Official Trailer
30s

Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in forging of humanity.

The Protector of Civilization
S1 Ep1 | 2m 45s

A Syrian museum curator sacrificed his life trying to save artifacts in Palmrya.

An Early Step on the Road to Civilization
S1 Ep1 | 1m 11s

Cave paintings in Castillo Spain represent some of the first paintings made by humans.

The Cognitive Revolution
S1 Ep1 | 1m 49s

The cognitive revolution stirred early humanity from its creative slumber.

The Lady of Brassempouy
S1 Ep1 | 1m 38s

This 25,000 year-old sculpture found in France represents the dawn of the idea of beauty.

How Do We Look?
S1 Ep2 | 30s

Explore how we look at the human body in art.

The Most Enduring Art Form
S1 Ep2 | 1m 39s

Our compulsion to create images of ourselves is a defining artistic motif of humanity.

Recording Social Norms
S1 Ep2 | 38s

Athenian vase painters recorded and then re-enforced ideas of what wives were meant to do.

God and Art
S1 Ep3 | 30s

Consider how religion has inspired art and art has inspired divine representation.

The Sacred Mountain
S1 Ep3 | 2m 58s

A spectacular place where the symbolism of the sacred mountain is embodied in art.

The Lion Man
S1 Ep3 | 1m 40s

One of the oldest objects of an imaginary being ever discovered.

New Forms of Spirituality
S1 Ep3 | 4m 5s

Art has found new ways to engage with our spiritual impulses.

The Day of the Dead
S1 Ep3 | 1m 42s

The Conquistadors attempted to eradicate all traces of indigenous Mexican culture.

Encounters
S1 Ep4 | 30s

See how art became the great interface when distant cultures met for the first time.

Montezuma and Cortes
S1 Ep4 | 4m 8s

The riches intended to buy off the Spanish only intensified their lust for gold.

Paving the Way for Maruyama Okyo’s Masterpiece
S1 Ep4 | 2m 42s

"Cracked Ice" combines everything Okyo knew from both Eastern and Western traditions.

Maria Sibylla’s Encounter with the Natural World
S1 Ep4 | 2m

Maria Sibylla's illustrations brought to light the true life cycle of insects.

Renaissances
S1 Ep5 | 30s

Travel east and west— to Renaissance Italy and the contemporaneous Islamic empires.

Building the Suleymaniye Mosque
S1 Ep5 | 2m 26s

Mimar Sinar always felt destined for something greater than building bridges.

The Madonna Di Loreto
S1 Ep5 | 1m 55s

In Rome, Caravaggio breaks the social and aesthetic rules of his generation.

The Distinction Between Craft and Genius
S1 Ep5 | 2m 3s

The Renaissance creates a contrast between ars and invenio.

Artemisia’s Most Subversive Work
S1 Ep5 | 2m 8s

Artemisia rebels against any notion that women shouldn't speak until spoken to.

Paradise on Earth
S1 Ep6 | 30s

Explore one of humanity’s deepest artistic urges: the depiction of nature.

Heavenly Paradises on Earth
S1 Ep6 | 55s

In Islamic architecture, landscapes reflect a mastery over the natural world.

Landscape as Ideology
S1 Ep6 | 34s

In Li Cheng's landscape art escapes the natural world.

Nature Becomes the Story
S1 Ep6 | 3m 1s

Albrecht Altdorfer sidesteps religious conflict by using nature.

Color and Light
S1 Ep7 | 30s

Explore light and color in art in the search for greater realism and spiritual ecstasy.

Three Aspects of the Absolute
S1 Ep7 | 2m 8s

Out of Hindu metaphysics comes the nearest visualisation you can get to of a trance.

Goya’s Harmony and Chaos
S1 Ep7 | 2m 7s

Goya bares witness to the irrational forces unleashed by Napoleon's invasion of Spain.

Japan’s 18th Century Commercial Art Revitalizes Color
S1 Ep7 | 1m 53s

Ukiyo-e demonstrated that every day transitory objects could be considered art.

Venetians Embrace Color Over the Drawn Line
S1 Ep7 | 1m 56s

For Renaissance art theorists, drawing always came before color.

The Cult of Progress
S1 Ep8 | 30s

Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology.

Capturing Unspoiled Landscape
S1 Ep8 | 4m 20s

Thomas Cole regarded the US landscape as being what he called the undefiled work of Gods.

Manet Twists the Conventions of Art
S1 Ep8 | 2m 30s

Edouard Manet created a masterpiece famed as a masterclass in visual subversion.

George Catlin’s Indian Portraits
S1 Ep8 | 2m 18s

Despite his interest in portraiture, Catlin he said the Native Americans must perish.

Otto Dix’s Definitive Artistic Statement
S1 Ep8 | 3m 44s

Otto Dix and his generation had borne witness to the horrors of World War I.

What Is Art Good For?
S1 Ep9 | 30s

Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change.

Flights of Fancy
S1 Ep9 | 3m 9s

In December 1942, a Jewish teacher brings art supplies to children held by Nazis.

Mondrian’s New Visual Language
S1 Ep9 | 2m 20s

In the autumn of 1914, Mondrian had an epiphany that would bring true abstraction.

Art from Fiery Immolation
S1 Ep9 | 3m 43s

Some of the strongest contemporary art has the magical power of transformation.

The Multitudes of the Displaced
S1 Ep9 | 1m 43s

For artist Ai Weiwei, the calamity of our time is the disaster of the displaced.