COMPILED BY ARTE LUSSO TEAM

There is a strong correlation between art and film. Film is a form of art itself and in fact it is one of the most advanced forms of art created by man. Some of the generalized purposes of art and film that unite them are to create a powerful emotional experience, to entertain and to educate.

Over the years Hollywood and European filmmakers have created hundreds of amazing films about artists and their works that inspire audience to appreciate art and learn more about the life story of some brilliant people.

If you would like to follow the life of the fabulous painter like Frida Khalo or to learn the story of Modigliani read our article to choose the best film for you!

1. Frida (2002)

The beautiful film Frida (2002) directed by Julie Taymor portraits a private life of the surrealist Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. (Salma Hayek) The film captivates the audience by its beauty, sensitivity and art.

The story starts with Frida being involved in a bus crash at the age of 18. Though she survived her injuries, they caused her severe pain and extended periods of isolation for the rest of her life – greatly influencing her work, which most often took the form of self-portraits.

The film includes her complicated and up and down relationship with fellow artist and twice husband Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), her affair with exiled Russian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush), her constant health struggles, her amputations, her miscarriages, and her bi-sexuality.

The film Frida breathed life into the story of an incredible individual, who overcame enormous obstacles to create extraordinary art.

2. Modigliani (2004)

The film is set in 1919 Paris and depicts a story about the Italian artist Modigliani and his tragic romance with Jeanne Hebuterne.

The film focuses on his last days as well as the vicious rivalry between two brilliant people Modigliani and Picasso. His bitter rivalry with Picasso is one of the story’s primary threads.

The message of the film is clear: Modigliani’s belief in his work and his passion for art are unconditional. No one can touch them, not even Picasso.

The film is brilliantly acted by Andy Garcia, Omid Djalili and Elsa Zylberstein. Emotional, tense, and a wonderful show of art, this film is worth a watch.

3. Loving Vincent (2017)

This visually stunning, beautiful piece of film is a must-watch. It’s an animation imagining the last months of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh. (Robert Gulaczyk)

Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman the film explores the life and the unusual death of Vincent Van Gogh.

The most amazing point of this film is that each of 65,000 frames has been painted by hand and in Van Gogh’s post-impressionist style by 125 painters. The whole process took 10 years to complete. The technique literally gave life to Van Gogh’s paintings.

4. Big Eyes (2014)

Directed and produced by Tim Burton, Big Eyes is based on the true story of Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), who was one of the most successful painters of the 1950s and early 1960s.

The film tells us the story of the artist who became overwhelmingly notorious by his enigmatic paintings of waifs with big eyes. His paintings became a sensation, generating huge earnings and achieving bizarre popular icon status. The truth would eventually be discovered though: Keane’s art was actually not created by him at all, but by his wife, Margaret (Amy Adams).

Big Eyes centers on Margaret’s awakening as an artist, the phenomenal success of her paintings, and her tumultuous relationship with her husband.

“Big Eyes” is full of fascinating questions about the meaning of art, the concept of popularity, and what it means to develop a huge audience.

5. The Agony and Ecstasy (1965)

The Agony and the Ecstacy is the story of the 16th century war of wills between Renaissance artist Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) and Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison).

The story itself is really interesting as it opens up the many challenges Michelangelo experienced in completing his famous painting and this from a man who did not consider himself a painter but rather a sculptor. Charlton Heston plays a strong Michelangelo with a temper, and Rex Harrison is terrific as the pope.

The film will please art and history admirers and leave a wonderful aftertaste.

6. Caravaggio (1986)

Caravaggio is biographical film which depicts us an adventurous life of a baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) who became much more renown as Caravaggio. It is actually a town near Milan in Italy where the painter came from.

The film paints the biographical details, from his boyhood apprenticeship in Milan, escape to Rome, and patronage from the Cardinal Francesco Del Monte and the notorious taste of Caravaggio for street fights and carousing.

Film is expressionistic and engaging, and will make you understand the nature of the artist named Caravaggio.

7. Death and Maiden (2016)

Death and Maiden is a biopic about Egon Schiele, one of the most provocative artists from Vienna at the beginning of the 20th Century.

“Death and Maiden” is a painting of a 17 year old Wally, who is arguably artist’s true love who became immortalized in it.

Egon Schiele’s radical paintings scandalize Viennese society but notable and fearless artist as Gustav Kilmpt sees them as exceptional.

The film portrays Egon Schiele as an artist who leaves a vast legacy to this world after his own ephemeral and turbulent life.

8. Basquiat (1996)

Basquiat is set in New York 1980s and tells us a story of of the life and suffering of Jean-Michel Basquiat (played by Jeffrey Wright) an American artist of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent born in 1960.

The film depicts his life as a street artist who actually lived on the streets, his discovery by Andy Warhol (David Bowie) and others, how he became an in-demand graffiti and neo-expressionist artist, and his death from a drug overdose at his art studio at the age of 27.

The film vividly re-creates the 1980s New York art scene from firsthand experience.

9. Pollock (2000)

Pollock depicts the life of the American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

The film portraits a life journey of Pollock from struggling artist to international success and enfold his battle with alcoholism and his death in a car crash.

The director of the film is Ed Harris who also played a part of Jackson Pollock and earned Oscar for “Best Actor”.

Jackson Pollock was known for his drip paintings, which have become some of the most expensive works ever sold.

10. Séraphine (2008)

Seraphine directed by Martin Provost was a critically acclaimed film and the winner of seven Césars – the French Oscars – including best film.

The life of French painter Séraphine Louis was portrayed in this biopic . Working as a cleaning lady, Séraphine ( Yolande Moreau) was discovered and promoted by German art collector Wilhelm Ude (Ulrich Tukur) and later became a famous representative of the Naïve art movement with her works featuring intensely repeated floral arrangements.

She famously incorporated in her paintings such materials as soil and the blood of dead animals, which she found on her daily walks.