Film director & art historian Phil Grabsky and art-lover Laura Bentham meet each week to talk about paintings that inspire or excite them. Listen to their ‘Painting of the Week’ and explore some of the world’s most amazing art.
Season 4 ep. 10: Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night Over the Rhône
In this episode of Painting of the Week's Season 4, Phil and Laura look at Vincent’s other ‘Starry Night’, painted just down the road from his famous yellow house in Arles, and explore the themes of love, madness and beauty that have followed this beloved and troubled artist over the centuries...
Season 4 ep. 6: Edgar Degas, Miss La la
This week, the co-directors of My National Gallery, London (in cinemas 4 June) Ali Ray and Phil Grabsky discuss Ali’s favourite work in this world-renowned gallery, and just why it stuck out to her amongst this enormous collection of masterpieces...
Season 4 ep. 3: Hans Holbien the Younger, The Ambassadors
This Painting of the Week is Holbein’s masterpiece from one of the most important years in British history – 1533. This was the year that Henry VIII broke from the Catholic church, married Anne Boleyn and had a daughter who would become one of England’s most popular monarchs, Elizabeth I...
Season 4 ep. 2: The AIDS Memorial Quilt with Prof. Yvonne Gilleece
In honour of National AIDS Memorial Week, Phil and Laura met with Professor Yvonne Gilleece to discuss the moving and monumental AIDS Memorial Quilt, which memorialises those lost to the HIV AIDS epidemic of the 80s and 90s. For more information, visit https://www.aidsquiltuk.org/about/
Season 4 ep. 1: John Singer Sargent – Madame X
Season 4 kicks off with Sargent’s scandalous masterpiece, which he called “the best thing he ever did”. This painting caused a big enough stir to force him to both edit the painting and to relocate from Paris Season 4 kicks off with Sargent’s scandalous masterpiece, which he called “the best thing he ever did”. This painting caused a big enough stir to force him to both edit the painting and to relocate from Paris to London in 1886...
Season 3 ep. 17: Georges de la Tour, The Penitent Magdalene
This moody, gothic painting was a clean break from the bombastic nature of the baroque style which dominated in the seventeenth century and brings the viewer into a quiet moment of intense contemplation with Mary Magdalene herself…
Season 3 Ep 10: Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window
In this very special episode Phil speaks to 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' author Tracy Chevalier from the Rijksmuseum's once-in-a-lifetime Vermeer exhibition. Phil and Tracy stand before a masterpiece and discuss it's surprising history...
Season 2 Ep 18: Jo Hopper, Edward Hopper, Railroad Gates
This week, Phil and Hopper House curator Elizabeth Thompson Colleary discuss not one but two paintings, both entitled ‘Railroad Gates’ - one by Edward Hopper and one by his wife Jo - and uncover a fascinating story in the process…
Season 2 Ep 16: Rembrandt, The Night Watch
This enormous masterpiece is one of Rembrandt’s finest works, and one of the most famous of the Dutch Golden Age. Brimming with life, it has a fascinating history which includes being wrongfully identified as a night scene during the 19th century and multiple attempts at vandalism!
Season 2 Ep 15: Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas
On this date made entirely of twos - 22/2/22 - we are celebrating 2 weeks until the release of our film exploring the life and art of international icon Frida Kahlo and so, rather fittingly, this episode of Painting of the Week focuses on The Two Fridas, with special guest Ali Ray, the director of the upcoming film.
Season 2 Ep 14: Duncan Grant, The Room with a View
In this episode, Phil & Laura journey to Charleston House in rural Sussex to explore an excellent Duncan Grant exhibition, selecting his fascinating ‘The Room with a View” to discuss, and, more broadly, the Bloomsbury Group and its remarkable cast of characters.
Season 2 Ep 12: Kaixuan Feng, Filtres a cafe (130)
In honour of Chinese New Year today, our Painting Of The Week is by Chinese artist Kaixuan Feng, who has trained in both traditional Chinese painting and contemporary art, bringing the two together in her unique series of beautifully decorated coffee filters…
Season 2 Ep 11: Henry Raeburn, The Skating Minister
For this special Burns' Night edition of Painting of the Week, Phil & Laura are looking at an iconic and decidedly unusual Scottish painting by Sir Henry Raeburn (1756 - 1823) - his charming depiction of the Rev. Robert Walker gliding across Duddingston Loch on his skates…
Season 2 Ep 9: William Holman Hunt, The Lady of Shalott
A painting based on a drawing based on a poem based on a legend… this week Phil & Laura discuss Hunt’s rendition of the legend of the Lady of Shalott, an Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem used with great enthusiasm by the Pre-Raphaelites.
Season 2 Ep 8: The Great Bookcase
Worked on by fourteen leading nineteenth century artists and taking 3 years to complete, the stunning ‘Great Bookcase’ is so much more than a piece of furniture. Join Phil in his discussion with Matthew Winterbottom, Curator of Sculpture & Decorative Arts at the Ashmolean as they discuss one of the museum’s most intriguing pieces…
Season 2 Ep 5: John Constable, The Gleaners
In this episode, Phil and Laura look at one of the greatest of all British artists: John Constable. He is known best for his Suffolk (eastern England) landscapes but this painting is Brighton on the south coast. Why was he there? What does the painting reveal?
Season 2 Ep 3: Edvard Munch, Four Girls on the Bridge
This painting by Edvard Munch depicts girls standing on a bridge wearing bright clothes and with a bright blue sky overhead, perhaps suggesting that it’s summer. However, the sketchy forms and puzzling nature of the figures suggest it is equally a depiction of Munch’s psychological state, a somewhat darker place.
Season 2 Ep 2: John Everett Millais, Portrait of John Ruskin
This portrait of Victorian art critic John Ruskin was painted by Millais in 1853-4. Ruskin was an early advocate of the pre-Raphaelites and part of their success was down to his efforts. Phil is joined this week by Matthew Winterbottom, Curator of Sculpture & Decorative Arts at The Ashmolean where the painting hangs…
Season 1 Ep 20: Edouard Manet, The Railway
Painted in 1873, The Railway is the last painting by Manet of his favourite model, fellow painter Victorine Meurent. We see her sitting with a sleeping puppy, a fan, and an open book in her lap, while a little girl watches the white clouds of steam as a train passes beneath them. But actually, we are seeing far more than that…
Season 1 Ep 17: Bridget Riley, Uneasy Centre, 1963
Bridget Riley is one of today’s most prominent artists, having made her name in the 1960s with black and white paintings that explored the dynamic effects of optical phenomena. This week Phil and Laura look at Uneasy Centre from 1963… and somehow manage to mention the rock band Black Sabbath!
Season 1 Ep 16: Berthe Morisot, Girl in a Boat, with Geese
Phil and Laura this week look at a painting by Berthe Morisot, one of the leading French Impressionists. The vivid oil painting features a lady rowing a boat, with geese standing on the edge of a river… or does it? Time to take a closer look…
Season 1 Ep 12: Henri Matisse, The Snail
This week Phil & Laura explore one of Matisse’s most famous works, created towards the end of his life when he was confined to bed due to ill health… His materials? Coloured paper and a large pair of scissors. The result: for many, a masterpiece.