Art in Cinema

Movies about artists and the art scene
Revised 10/7/04

Adventures of Picasso	1980	**	Gosta Ekman, Lena Olin	Swedish satire, dubbed
The Agony and the Ecstasy	1965	**1/2	Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison	Michelangelo paints the ceiling
American in Paris	1951	***	Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron	Musical, artist in Paris. Big budget.
Andrei Rublev	1966	****		Historical drama. Russian language with subtitles
Art				Stage play about a white-on-white painting
Artemisia	1997	*	Valentia Cervi	A woman's pursuit of artistic freedom
Artists and Models	1955	**	Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis	The stars says it all
Artist and the Shaman	2002	***		Paul David takes the summer off to paint and self-discover
As Good as It Gets	1997	***	Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt	Subplot of an artist. Big budget
Baghdad Café	1988	***	Jack Palance	Subplot of an artist
Basquiat	1996	*	Jeffery Wright	Graffiti art's life story
Bean	1997	***	Rowan Atkinson	Disaster-magnet as museum guard
Bergonzi Hand	1970	*		Immigrant paints a forgery. TV Movie
Big Eden	2000	**1/2	Arye Gross	Gay artist returns home
Black Magic Women	1991	Bomb	Mark Hamill	Art gallery owner has an affair with a black magic woman
Blow Up	1966	**	David Hemmings	Fashion photographer. Suspense
The Blue Light	1932	***		Subtitles. Mysterious woman painter is thought to be a witch.
Bluebeard	1944	***	John Carradine	Tormented painter
Boricua's Bond	2000	**		Young artist chooses painting over gangs
Brush with Fate	2003	**	Glenn Close	Vermeer painting in question
A Bucket of Blood	1959	***	Dick Miller	sculptor with "talent" for life-like work
Camille Claudel	1989	**	Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu	Rodin's pupil & mistress
Canvas	1992	**	Gary Busey	Ruthless gallery owner recruits artists
Caravaggio	1986	***	Spencer Leigh	Controversial bio
Caravaggio	2000			Great Master Series
Caravaggio Conspiracy	1984			Detective story looks at the world of art
Carrington	1995	**1/2	Jonathan Pryce	England's Bloombury Group
Cauldron of Blood	1967	*1/2	Boris Karloff	Blind sculptor uses human bones
Changing Habits	1996	*1/2		Starving artist moves into a nunnery
Circle of Two	1993	**	Richard Burton, Tatum O'Neal	Friendship between aging artist and young girl
Confessions of Robert Crumb	1987	**1/2	Robert Crumb	HBO picture about cartoon artist
Crucible of Terror	1972	Bomb		Mad sculptor imprisons models
Crumb	1994	***	Robert Crumb	Cartoon Artist Robert Crumb
Dante's Inferno	1969	**	Oliver Reed	Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dark Side of Genius	1994	**		Artist & murdered model
The Death Artist	1995	*1/2	Justine Batemen	Remake of the "Bucket of Blood"
Dean Quixote	Unreleased		Brian Poth	Bob Burridges' pictures decorate the walls
Detonator 2: Night Watch	1995	**1/2	Pierce Brosnan	Rembrandt's painting is replaced by a forgery
Dirty Pictures	2000	**	James Woods	TV movie about Mapplethorpe's pics
A Dog of Flanders	1999	**	Jack Warden	Befriended young artist
Driller Killer	1979	Bomb		Artist goes insane with power drill
Echoes	1983	**1/2	Mercedes McCambridge	Artist has nightmares
Edvard Munch	1974	**	Geir Westby	English subtitles
Ebony Tower	1966	**1/2	Laurence Olivier	TV movie. Old artist who lives with two young females
Empty Canvas	1964	*1/2		Spiritually bankrupt artist
Entre-Nous	1983	***1/2		Disaffected female artist & her lover. Sutitled
Escape to Florence	1962	**		Two art students get mixed up with a forgery ring
Femme Fatale	1990	**1/2	Colin Firth	Looks into LA's avant-guard art scene
Fleshtone	1994	**		Painter paints murders & suicides
Frida	2002	***	Selma Hayek	Frida self-portrait story. Also Diego River's story is a strong subplot. Big budget
Frida	1984	**1/2	Ofelia Medina	In Spanish with subtitles
From the Mixed Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweller	1995	**1/2		TV Movie. Siblings hide out in a New York art museum
Frozen	2000	**	Rod Steiger	Remake of House of Wax
Girl with the Pearl Earrings	2003	***	Scarlett Johanssen, Colin Firth	Tribute to Vermeer
Goya in Bordauex	1999	**	Francisco Rabal	Goya recalling his life
Great Expectations	1997	**	Robert DeNiro, Gwyneth Paltrow	Modern Dickens about a painter
Great Master: Caravaggio	2000	***1/2	Biopic	Artist series
Hideaways	1973	**1/2		Kids hide at the MET
Horse's Mouth	1958	***	Alec Guinness	Obsessive painter
Horsey	1999	**		Young artist makes no apologies for any of her passions
Hot Stuff	198?	Bomb	Wayne Rogers	An art forger is besieged
Hour of the Wolf	1968	***	Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann	View into the tormented inner life of an artist
House of Horrors	1946	**	Jean Yarbrough	Mad sculptor in a revenge plot
House of Wax	1953	***	Vincent Price	Deranged sculptor horror flick
How to Steal a Million	1966	***	Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole	Heist of a sculpture from a Paris museum
Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures	1978	**1/2		Hassle over priceless paintings
The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting	1978	**		English subtitles. About seven paintings of Frederic Tonnerre
If Lucy Fell	1995	**1/2	Sarah Jessica Parker	Romantic comedy. Artist subplot
Incognito	1997	*1/2		Art forger gets double crossed
I Shot Andy Warhol	1996	*	Lili Taylor	NY artist community in the 60's
I heard the Mermaids Sing	1987	***	Shelia McCarthy	Semi-satiric romantic comedy about a woman who works in a gallery
In America	2002	***		An artist in subplot, Irish immigrant family adjusts
Jimmy Zip	2000	**		Pyromaniac meets sculpture
Jody's Body				One person stage play
A Kink in the Picasso	1990	**	Peter O�Brien	Criminals chase after a Picasso
La Belle Noiseuse	1990	**1/2		Art House award winner. Explores connection between art & life
La Vie de Bohême	1993	***		Subtitles. Comedy takes a mocking look at art
Little Noises	1991	**	Crispin Glover	Artist seeks fame, fortune & love
Love & Sex	2000	**1/2	Famke Janssen	Writer remembers his relationship with an artist
Love is The Devil	1988	**	Derek Jacobi	Francis Bacon
Love Play	1960	**	Jean Seberg	Young girl gets involved with sculptor & his mistress
The Low Down	2000	**		Boy's dreams of becoming a sculptor
Lust For Life	1956	**	Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn	Two ill-matched painters
Luscious	1997	*1/2	Stephen Shellen	Seeking inspiration, painter uses girlfriend as paint brush
Lust And Revenge	1995	**	Claudia Karvan	Daughter hires sculptor
Magnificent Adverturer	1976	*	Brett Halsey	Life of Benevento Cellini
Max	2002	**	John Cusack	What if Hitler was successful as an artist?
Milo Milo	196?	**	Antonio Fargas	Plot to steal the Venus de Milo
Miró, Mirror #3 The Voyeur	1996	*1/2	Billy Drago	Artist discovers a magic mirror
Missing Pieces	2000	**	James Coburn	TV movie. Father seeking son
Mistral's Daughter	1984	*1/2	Stefanie Powers	Artist's relationship with three women
The Moderns	1988	***	Keith Carradine	Avant Garde society clashes over art and love
Modigliani	1958	**1/2	Gerald Philipe	Artist pursues his art. Subtitled
Moll Flanders	1996	**1/2	Robin Wright	Prostitute falls for artist
Moon & the Sixpence	1943	***	George Sanders	Paul Gauguin
Morgan, a Suitable Case For Treatment	1966	**1/2	Vanessa Redgrave	Deranged artist wears ape suit
Moulin Rouge	1952	***	Jose Ferrer	Lautrec's story
Moulin Rouge	2001	**1/2	Nicole Kidman	Look at Paris art scene, music/dance
Murder by Numbers	1989	**1/2	Sam Behrens	Murder in the art world
My Left Foot	1989	**	Daniel Day-Lewis	Irish writer & painter, Christy Brown
Naked Maja	1959	**	Ava Gardner, Anthony Franciosa	Francisco Goya
Never Met Picasso	1996	**1/2	Alexis Arquette	Struggling artist deals with life
New York Stories	1989	**	Nick Nolte	Three tales from NYC, one about a painter
The Next Big Thing	2002	*1/2	Christopher Eigeman	Artist, stolen painting, scam, etc.
Object of Beauty	1991	***	Andie McDowell, John Malkovich	Two Americans in Europe need to sell Moore sculpture
Out of the Shadows	1988	**1/2	Charles Dance	Police investigate art thefts
Paint It Black	1989	**1/2	Sally Kirkland	Silver-spooner develops fascination for artist
Painted Lady	1997	***	Helen Mirren	Subplot of stolen painting & illegal art world. TV Movie
Perfect Murder	1998	**	Michael Douglas	Subplot with an artist
Picture of Dorian Gray	1945	***	George Sanders, Angela Lansbury	Oscar Wilde's classic
Picture of Dorian Gray	1974	***		Oscar Wilde's classic
Pollock	2000	**	Ed Harris	Story of the Painter. Big budget
Portrait in Terror	1966	*1/2	Patrick Magee	Deranged artist plans art theft
Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog	1989	*	Lisa Zane	Artist & girlfriend find themselves in a situation
A Question of Attribution	1991	**1/2	James Fox	Art expert's life unravels. TV Movie
Rembrandt	1936	***1/2	Charles Laughton	Classic movie
Rembrandt-1669	1977	**	Aya Gill	Subtitles
Return to Me	2000	**1/2	Minnie Driver	Artist subplot
Rendezvous in Paris	1995	**	Clara Beller	Three stories, one with gallery scene. Subtitles
Retribution	1988	*1/2	Dennis Lipscomb	Struggling artist survives suicide
Rivers & Tides				Sculpture, Andy Goldsworthy English audio track
The Sand Piper	1965	**	Elizabeth TaylorRichard Burton	Free-spirited artist falls in love with married school master
Savage Messiah	1972	***	Dorothy Tutin, Helen Mirren	Sculptor Henri Gaudier
Scream, Baby, Scream	1969	*	Ross Harris	Artist sculpts models' faces
Sirens	1994	*	Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald	Repressed wife in an art colony
Sheer Madness	1984	***	Hanna Schygulla	Intense friendship between troubled artist & professor
Shifting Sands	1918		Gloria Swanson	Young girl wants to become an artist. Landlord has her jailed
Silver Chalice	1954	*	Paul Newman	Sculpture and The Chalice
Slaves of New York	1969	*1/2	Bernadette Peters	Greenwich Village artists
Starry Night	1999	**1/2		What if Van Gogh were alive in LA 100 years after his death
Strange Fruit	1979	**		Trials of a black painter in the South
Sunday in the Country	1984	***1/2		In French with subtitles. An elderly Impressionist painter is visited by his family
Sunday in the Park with George	1986	***	Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin	Based on George Seurat's painting. Taped musical play
Superstar: Andy Warhol	1990	***	Tom Wolfe	Vivid picture of the era
Surviving Picasso	1996	**1/2	Anthony Hopkins	Art student becomes mistress
Sweet Thing	2000	***	Jeremy Fox	Troubled artists' controversial work
Tainted Image	1991	**	Tom Sanders	Woman turns to a canvas for help
Tattoo	1981	*	Bruce Dern, Maude Adams	Tattoo artist gone awry
Thomas Crown Affair	1999	**	Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo	A high tech art robbery
Titanic	1997	***	Leonardo DiCaprio	Small artist sub-plot. Big budget
Trespasser	1985	**	Alan Bates	Painter has an affair. Based on D.H. Lawrence novel
Trust Me	1989	**		Art dealers try to kill artist to increase value of his work
The Two Mrs. Carrolls	1947	**1/2	Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwick	Artist paints portraits of his wives & kills them
Utamaro and His Five Women	1946	**1/2		In Japanese with English subtitles. Artist gets along better with paintings than real women
Van Gogh	1992	***	Jacques Dutronc	His last 67 days
Vincent	1987	***	John Hurt	Documentary manner of story telling
Vincent and Theo	1990	*	Tim Roth	Artist & his brother
Where the Heart Is	1990	**	Dabney Coleman	Reported artist character subplot
Wolf at the Door	1987	**1/2	Donald Sutherland	Paul Gauguin

Back to Museums