In June, abstract art is featured on Museum TV

In June, abstract art is featured on Museum TV. Abstract art was born at the beginning of the 20th century. The artistic landscape of the time consisted mainly of Fauvism, Cubism and figurative expressionism. Art was marked by the liberation of colour, form and, above all, the subject. Figurative art was completely abandoned, content was abandoned for pure form.

On the programme:  

• Rothko – Hartung : Colors and Cataclysms
• Kandinsky, Delaunay, Poliakoff: abstract art
• The Art of Australia

Rothko - Hartung : colors and cataclysms

Thursday 23rd June at 8.30pm - EXCLUSIVE MUSEUM TV PROGRAMME

While Europe and the United States dominate the art scene after World War II, Mark Rothko and Hans Hartung forged a discreet, friendly and very fertile bond. This documentary introduces the discovery of this little known and fascinating complicity between both artists. On the one hand, Mark Rothko, "the most violent of American painters" in his own words; on the other, Hans Hartung, a brilliant experimenter and "boxer" in front of the canvas.

From the moment they met in 1950 in Hans Hartung's studio, there was a collaboration between them that resulted in huge, metaphysical and cataclysmic paintings. Then, Rothko gave a "lesson" to his European colleague, Hartung visited and paid homage to his elder and then mourned his suicide from Antibes, where he had a huge villa-studio built and kept the secrets of his relationship. This Rothko-Hartung encounter is an unprecedented and yet essential subject to understand a part of 20th century art.

Kandinsky, Delaunay, Poliakoff : Abstract Art

June 9th onwards, every Thursday at 8.30pm

• The World's Greatest Painters - Wassily Kandinsky, Thursday 9th June at 8.30pm - New programme
  Wassily Kandinsky is the founder of abstract art and is generally considered to be the most influential artists of his time. He is the author of the first non-figurative work in the history of modern art of the 20th century, a watercolour of 1910 which will be called "abstract". He is born on December 16, 1866, in Moscow, he began studying painting at the age of 30 and also worked as an art theorist. In Kandinsky's works, many features are immediately apparent, while few are more discreet and veiled, to be revealed for those who make the effort to deepen their links with the work. We need to do more than a single impression or a quick identification of forms that the artist has used and subtly harmonized to be in resonance with the soul of the spectator. Kandinsky died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on December 13, 1944.
   
• The World's Greatest Painters - Sonia Delaunay, Thursday 16th June at 8.30pm
  Sonia Delaunay is a French painter with Ukrainian origin born in 1885 under the name Sophie Stern and died in 1979. She is the pioneer of abstraction while her husband Robert Delaunay conceptualize abstraction as a universal language. Sonia Delaunay is an adept of the total art, experimenting varied support such as paintings, clothes or household objects. She also develops her skills in the theatre and in fashion that she commercialized in Madrid and then in Paris in 1920. After that, she takes an important place and play the role of the “smuggler” between the generation of the pioneers of abstraction and the 1950 generation. Her creativity and her techniques in her various works (paintings, mosaic, carpet, tapestry) will make her famous to the public. 
   
• Rothko – Hartung: Colors and Cataclysms, Thursday 23rd June at 8.30pm - New programme
  Mark Rothko and Hans Hartung, both legends of painting, collaborated on huge, metaphysical and cataclysmic paintings. A unique and essential encounter to understand the art of the 20th century.
   
• The World's Greatest Painters - Serge Poliakoff, Thursday 30rd June at 8.30pm - New programme
  Serge Poliakoff is famous for his abstract painting. After fleeing the Russian Revolution in 1917 with his aunt and uncle, he arrived in Paris at the age of 23 while earning money as a musician. He mixed academic traditions to paint figurative motifs such as naked, houses, trees, etc. Later, He discovered abstraction, he was influenced by Kandinsky and exploited colour without figurative representations. He learned to appreciate the emotional quality of colour and became interested in simultaneous contrasts. He developed a particular form of abstract painting and combined various colour surfaces. In his later works, he reduced his vivid polychromic to ochre shades and developed an inclination for monochrome creations. Since 1962, he devoted himself mainly to lithographs and smaller paintings.

The art of Australia

June 14th onwards, every Tuesday at 8.30pm - NEW PROGRAMME

This is a landmark series in which Edmund Capon tells the story of art in Australia and the role it has played in the development of the nation. The three-part series weaves the stories of European and Indigenous art. Edmund travels across the continent to look at important artworks and meet significant contemporary artists whose work creatively deals with themes from Australian history.

Visit our Museum TV streaming platform to discover more art-related content.