A film lover’s guide to art

In this feature debut from Jack Hazan, David Hockney’s canvases and photographs dissolve into highly stylised—and at times shockingly intimate—scenes, revealing the heartbreak and inspiration behind one of his iconic pool paintings. The effect is hypnotic—less a documentary than a portrait of Hockney’s early emotional and creative world.

In 17^th century Rome, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio casts a dark shadow searching for patrons in the church whilst consorting with the city’s underworld. A landmark in Derek Jarman’s career, and the beginning of his relationship with muse Tilda Swinton (who makes her screen debut), this film captures the titular artist’s world with all the gravity and sumptuousness of his paintings.

Gerhard Richter has often been called the greatest artist of our time. For three years, director Corinna Belz was given rare access to his studio. In this pared-back documentary, the artist says little; our focus is turned instead to the physical act of painting. By showing Richter at work, Belz is able to make sense of his art: the expression of the incomprehensible through the form of the paintings themselves.

A humanising portrait of one of contemporary art’s provocateurs par excellence. The Artist Is Present follows Marina Abramović as she prepares for her 2010 MoMA retrospective, revealing the person behind the performances. Charismatic, fearless, and full of tender contradictions, “Marina seduces,” even as her work continues to provoke. 

Widely regarded as Tarkovsky’s magnum opus, this portrait of the titular medieval icon painter, creating in an unseeing and uncomprehending world, is one of the great works of world cinema. At a hefty three-hour running time, Rublev’s despairing creativity is resolved in the film’s unforgettable final episode when a young boy casts a bell through a sheer act of faith, allowing Rublev to break his silence and start to paint again. 

Willem Dafoe plays Van Gogh in Julian Schnabel’s heartfelt biopic of the artist’s life. Schnabel—himself both filmmaker and painter—tells Van Gogh’s story from the perspective of a fellow artist, capturing the vital energy that drove his art with the same painterly intensity.

Salma Hayek stars in Julie Taymor’s biopic of the iconic 20^th century Mexican painter. Kahlo’s pain-fraught life—as artist, political radical, and two-time wife to Diego Rivera—provides all the drama. A colourful and often heart-warming watch—in spite of a few rogue animations that might raise a Kahlo-style eyebrow. 

A candid drama starring Reichardt regular Michelle Williams as Lizzy Carr, a fledgling ceramics artist navigating the chaos of everyday life and family responsibility as she prepares for a career-changing exhibition. Reichardt has given art-lovers another film with The Mastermind—a heist movie starring Josh O’Connor, which was nominated for the Palme d’Or in Cannes this year.