Author: Megan Poole

To finish off Season 7, we have a gorgeous watercolour by the one and only J. M. W. Turner, which depicts Exhibition on Screen’s hometown of Brighton circa 1824, complete with Royal Pavilion and the Chain Pier which was destroyed by a storm in 1896. With special guest Dr Amy Concannon, Manton Senior Curator of Historic British Art at Tate Britain and contributor in our new Turner & Constable film – in cinemas 10 March 2026.

A classic image of the “four seasons in one day” that epitomises British weather, there is so much more to this picturesque Constable landscape than first meets the eye…

Phil and Laura are joined by author and filmmaker Howard Burton for this episode,  which examines an intriguing portrait of the 23 year old female artist’s three sisters and a maid playing chess, a pastime typically reserved for men in Renaissance art to demonstrate their martial prowess…

Phil is once again with Wendy Smith – Assistant Director of the San Juan Islands Museum of Art, Washington – and this time they are examining a monumental ink and paper collage depicting a ‘river’ of migrating Alaskan caribou, exploring the rich symbolism within this stunning work.

In this episode, Phil and Laura speak with author Michael Schreiber about a deeply symbolic work by , painted Bernard Perlin, who was rejected from the US military during WW2 for being openly gay, nevertheless went on to create some of the war effort’s most iconic anti-Nazi propaganda. Painted right after the end of the Second World War, this striking work shows two young Jewish boys standing in front of a graffitied New York wall containing everything from lovers’ initials to Nazi symbols.

A real treat for you in this episode, as Phil goes on a field trip to London to meet with Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, and discuss one of Caravaggio’s most controversial works, the focus of their current exhibition, running until 12th April 2026. 

For this week’s episode, Phil speaks with author & art dealer Deborah Pollack about Hermann Herzog’s steamy Florida wilderness, which he depicted in over 300 paintings, earning him the unofficial status as ‘the artist of Florida.’

This week’s focus in an artist who has been called ‘the British Caravaggio’. This eerie candlelit scene shows a scientific experiment in the ‘Age of Reason’, capturing the drama of the event, the limits of human knowledge and the fragility of life itself. Phil talks about this and more with Christine Riding, Curator and Director of Collections and Research at the National Gallery, London. 

Captivated by Breton peasants in their striking costumes on a summer trip to the countryside in 1888, the wonderful American artist Cecilia Beaux was honing her skills with this intriguing portrait. The influence of the French impressionists would never leave her even when she returned to Philadelphia where, one day, she would become the first female art teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 

It’s a new year and a new season of Painting of the Week! We’re starting off with one of the 20th century’s best-known artworks, beloved for its technical skill and its touching depiction of dignity in old age, and fascinating thanks to the artist himself…