Scandi noir? Does Scandinavian art deserve its dark reputation?

It’s a land without light for months on end, with a reputation for gloom and bleak landscapes that inspired 20th-century existentialism. But, in this BBC Scandinavian art documentary expert Andrew Graham-Dixon discovers that while it’s a fitting home for Munch’s The Scream, Scandinavia is also a land of eroticism, fairytales, futuristic thinking and idealism that’s given us bicycle-riding monarchs, Lego and modernist social design.

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Wonderland: Lewis Carroll to JRR Tolkien

Wonderland: Lewis Carroll to JRR Tolkien

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Rembrandt

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The Art of Gothic

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Why was the life of influential artist Paul Gauguin mired in controversy and conflict?

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The Body Beautiful: Ancient Greeks, Good Looks and Glamour

Why were the Ancient Greeks so preoccupied with images concerning the naked human form?

Confucius

The remarkable story of a great thinker who helped to form a nation and shape the world.

Van Gogh: Painted with Words

Powerful docudrama exploring the work and passions of Vincent Van Gogh

The Genius of Carl Faberge

Would you spend $100 million on eggs? You might if they were Faberge.

Watch The High Art of the Low Countries on BBC Select

The High Art of the Low Countries

Size doesn’t matter. How one small region spawned the greatest artists of all time.

Watch The Art of Spain on BBC Select

The Art of Spain

Territory, politics and religious conflict: the untold history of Spain’s cultural legacy.

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Simon Schama's Shakespeare and Us

A Bard’s tale. How Shakespeare united the intellectual and populist like no one else.

Watch Art of China on BBC Select

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Historian Andrew Graham-Dixon marvels at a millennia of Chinese art

Watch The Art of France on BBC Select

Art of France

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Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne discovers the artists who saved lives during WW1

Write Around the World

Revisit your favourite reads with Academy Award nominee Richard E. Grant

Harry Potter - A History of Magic

They’re the fastest-selling books in history. But what inspired the enchanting world of Harry Potter?

The World's Greatest Paintings

What makes a particular artwork an iconic masterpiece? Andrew Marr investigates.

The Impressionists

Who were the Impressionists and what fueled their desire to alter the direction of art?

Vincent: The Full Story

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The Story of Women and Art

Restless, resistant and radical. How female artists transformed art from the outside

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Wild visionaries and imaginative truth seekers whose radical ideas still resonate today.

Grayson Perry's Art Club

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