Last Watched

"Post-Impressionism"  Sort by

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

   2020    Art
Waldemar Januszczak sets out to uncover the secret meanings hidden in four famous paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Seurat. Everyone knows the pictures. They are among the most celebrated masterpieces of art. And yet, hidden inside them are codes and puzzles that no one has been able to decipher.
Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear was painted soon after he cut off his ear with a razor. But how much do we really know about it? In a far-ranging investigation, Waldemar Januszczak delves into the clues hidden in the painting. The result is a tale of geishas, brothels, bullfights, love affairs, suffering and a fiery relationship with Gauguin. The work has a powerful secret message, if you know what to look for.
Series: The Art Mysteries

Seurat Les Poseuses

   2020    Art
Hanging in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Seurat’s Les Poseuses is probably his least-known painting. It is also a picture brimming with codes and hidden meanings. It shows three nudes in the artist’s studio, but included in the background is Seurat’s famous masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Why is it there? What is it trying to say? Why two pictures at once? Waldemar Januszczak investigates.
Series: The Art Mysteries

Gauguin Vision After The Sermon

   2020    Art
The Vision After the Sermon, also known as Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, is a painting full of symbolism and mystery. But what does Gauguin’s famous work have to do with a 17-year-old girl called Madeleine, with Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, and with sumo wrestlers?
Waldemar Januszczak reveals all as he investigates Gauguin’s epic religious painting about good and evil, temptation and desire.
Series: The Art Mysteries

Cezanne Card Players

   2020    Art
One of Cezanne’s best-known pictures, but it is also one of his most mysterious. Why did the so-called father of modern art paint two old men hunched over a game of cards? What is the picture trying to tell us?
By exploring Cezanne’s puzzling religious beliefs and his passion for Mary Magdalene, the patron saint of Provence, Waldemar Januszczak uncovers the surprising secrets of a haunting masterpiece.
Series: The Art Mysteries
The Cell

The Cell

  Science
Life

Life

2009  Nature
Planet Earth

Planet Earth

2007  Nature
The Last Dance

The Last Dance

2020  Culture
The Jinx

The Jinx

  History
Top Science Stories

Top Science Stories

2020  Science
The Human Body

The Human Body

1998  Medicine