Can a dead shark ever be considered beautiful? Or is it our imaginations that are lacking?

Watch Ugly Beauty on BBC Select

When modern art is viewed – say, an unmade bed or a pickled shark – it may be hard to see the beauty in it. But is it us, the viewer, that’s the problem?

In this documentary art critic, Waldemar Januszczak thinks that beauty abounds in modern art despite the frequent criticism – we just need to look at it in a different way. Even paintings of human deformity or squares of metal dropped on a gallery floor can move us.

This show is not currently available on BBC Select but browse through the below titles for more Art documentaries available to stream on BBC Select.

More documentaries you might like...

Subscribe to BBC Select for hundreds of hours of thought - provoking, award-winning and critically-acclaimed documentaries from the BBC and beyond.

Watch Nature And Us: A History Through Art on BBC Select

Nature And Us: A History Through Art

In the age of climate crisis, what can art teach us about our relationship with nature?

Stream Rembrandt on BBC Select

Rembrandt

Did scandal and torment drive the artist to even greater creative glories?

The Art of Gothic

Why were Brits in the 19th-century obsessed with art that was horrific, macabre and weird?

Stream Gauguin: The Full Story on BBC Select

Gauguin: The Full Story

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

Watch Oceans Apart: Art and the Pacific on BBC Select

Oceans Apart: Art and the Pacific

The momentous impact of the West's contact with the peoples and cultures of the Pacific.

Van Gogh: Painted with Words

Powerful docudrama exploring the work and passions of Vincent Van Gogh

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.

Watch Art of China on BBC Select

Art of China

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

Stream Vincent Van Gogh - The Full Story on BBC Select

Vincent: The Full Story

What do we really know about Vincent van Gogh, arguably the world’s most famous artist?

Stream A Brief History of Graffiti on BBC Select

A Brief History of Graffiti

From cave art to street art - what drives human beings to draw on the walls?

The Story of Women and Art

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

Stream Simon Schama's Power of Art on BBC Select

Simon Schama's Power of Art

Eight masterpieces. Eight big names who changed the world. An electrifying feast of art.

Stream Grayson Perry - Big American Road Trip on BBC Select

Grayson Perry's Big American Roadtrip

Britain’s most unpredictable artist, Grayson Perry, sits America down for its portrait.

BBC Select free trial

BBC Select is available on Amazon Prime Video Channels and the Apple TV app for only $6.99 a month. Start a 30-day free trial and watch a range of acclaimed documentaries from the BBC and beyond. Restrictions apply*.

Beauty and fashion documentaries

Dig deeper into the complex and often conflicting worlds of beauty and fashion.

Stream The Body Beautiful: Ancient Greeks, Good Looks and Glamour on BBC Select

The Body Beautiful: Ancient Greeks, Good Looks and Glamour

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

Stream Liberty Of London on BBC Select

Liberty Of London

It’s posh, pricy and pretty peculiar! But what makes this iconic London store tick?

Watch Clothes to Die For on BBC Select

Clothes to Die For

How much did our desire for fast fashion drive a tragic industrial accident in Bangladesh?

Watch The Plastic Surgery Capital of the World on BBC Select

The Plastic Surgery Capital of the World

Not born with beauty? Buy it. But what’s the cost of Korean plastic perfection?

Watch Million Dollar Wedding Planner on BBC Select

Million Dollar Wedding Planner

Crazy rich weddings. A peek behind the veil of Asia’s million-dollar nuptials.

Watch In Louboutin’s Shoes on BBC Select

In Louboutin's Shoes

Sole man. Inside the fashion world of footwear designer Christian Louboutin.

Watch Inside the Billionaire's Wardrobe on BBC Select

Inside the Billionaire's Wardrobe

From hunter to high street: The reality of the super rich’s appetite for luxury goods.

Watch Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards on BBC Select

Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards

What drives the legendary shoe designer and self-confessed 'cobbler' Manolo Blahnik?

Stream Louis Theroux - Under the Knife on BBC Select

Louis Theroux: Under The Knife

Nip, tuck, repeat. Louis gets under the skin of plastic-surgery patients in Beverly Hills.

Stream I was Once a Beauty Queen on BBC Select

I Was Once A Beauty Queen

Lifting the tiara on Britain’s Beauty Queens and finding out how their lives panned out.