Obsessed with sex, surface and celebrity. Was pop art radically ahead of its time?

Stream Soup Cans & Superstars - How Pop Art Changed the World on BBC Select

All surface and no substance – or subversive and profound? Pop art has always divided tastes.

Watch Soup Cans and Superstars: How Pop Art Changed the World and more acclaimed documentaries on BBC Select today. Restrictions apply*.

Watch Soup Cans and Superstars: How Pop Art Changed the World on BBC Select

Art historian Alastair Sooke believes that the culture-drenched works of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein are era-defining masterpieces. But do the movement’s works still have the ability to shock?

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.

art

Stream The $50m Art Swindle on BBC Select

$50 Million Dollar Art Swindle

The amazing true crime case of a maverick art dealer who executed an audacious swindle.

Stream 100 Vaginas

100 Vaginas

Seeing a body part that 51% of people own shouldn’t be radical. So, why is it?

Stream Grayson Perry - All Man on BBC Select

Grayson Perry: All Man

As a ‘lifelong cissy’ artist, Grayson Perry has spent his whole life messing with machismo.

Stream Grayson Perry - Rites of Passage on BBC Select

Grayson Perry: Rites of Passage

Our traditions don’t help us. Artist Grayson Perry is on a quest to design ones that do.

Stream Grayson Perry - Art Club on BBC Select

Grayson Perry's Art Club

Artist Grayson Perry releases a torrent of quarantine-creativity in his lockdown art club.

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.

Stream Shock of the Nude on BBC Select

Shock of The Nude

Peek behind the fig leaf to find the truth behind the nude in art.

Stream The World's Greatest Painitings with Andrew Marr

The World's Greatest Paintings

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

Stream The Art Mysteries on BBC Select

The Art Mysteries

Think you know these works by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Seurat? Think again.

Stream The Story of Women and Art on BBC Select

The Story of Women and Art

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

Stream The Romantic Revolution on BBC Select

The Romantic Revolution

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

Learn More Stream Hokusai - Old Man Crazy to Paint on BBC Select

Stream Hokusai - Old Man Crazy to Paint on BBC Select

Hokusai: Old Man Crazy To Paint

You may not know his name but you’ll instantly recognize Hokusai’s most famous work.

Stream In Search of Frida Kahlo on BBC Select

In Search of Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo’s face is iconic. Musician Emeli Sandé uncovers the woman behind the art.

Stream Soup Cans & Superstars - How Pop Art Changed the Worldon BBC Select

Soup Cans and Superstars: How Pop Art Changed the World

Obsessed with sex, surface and celebrity. Was pop art radically ahead of its time?

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 The Beauty of Anatomy on BBC Select

The Beauty of Anatomy

Think your body’s a work of art? 17th-century Dutch anatomists would agree.

Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds - A Tale of Three Cities on BBC Select

Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds

Paris, Vienna and New York. The seismic influence of three cities on the artistic world.

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?

Stream Me, My Selfie, and I on BBC Select

Me, My Selfie and I

Know thy selfie: We’re so obsessed with how we look, are we forgetting who we are?

Stream The Man Who Shot New York on BBC Select

The Man Who Shot New York

More than just a photographer, New Yorker Harold Feinstein had an unquenchable thirst for life.

Stream Art of America on BBC Select

Art of America

Andrew Graham-Dixon tries to reach the heart of America through its art and artists.

Stream The Persians - A History of Iran on BBC Select

The Persians: A History of Iran

How was the world's first empire born and what led to its ultimate destruction?

Stream The man who shot beautiful women on BBC Select

The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women

Why is Erwin Blumenfeld, whose vision helped to shape modern photography, forgotten today?

Stream Apples, Pears And Paint - How to Make a Still Life Paintingon BBC Select on BBC Select

Apples Pears And Paint: How To Make A Still Life Painting

What can still life images of ordinary objects tell us about the artists who created them?

Stream The Impressionists on BBC Select

The Impressionists

Who were the Impressionists and what fueled their desire to alter the direction of 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 The Art of Architecture on BBC Select

The Art of Architecture

What does it take to plan and build some of the planet’s most awe-inspiring structures?

Stream War Art with Eddie Redmayne on BBC Select

War Art with Eddie Redmayne

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

Start your free trial now

BBC Select is available on Amazon Prime Video Channels and the Apple TV app for only $6.99 a month. Start your free 30-day trial today to stream documentaries on Smart TVs, laptops, tablets and mobile devices. Restrictions apply*.