"A filmmaker who is stumped but captivated by Emily Dickinson's poetry searches for 'flashes of insight' into the elusive poet beyond those offered by his lively but traditional interviews with experts such as actress Julie Harris and U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. So he turns to shrinks, a sensitive, a stand-up comic, a rock band, even a fan with an Emily tattoo across his back. Still unsatisfied, he holds auditions in which dozens of actresses...

Paul Cézanne is considered the father of modern painting. In the South of France, his obstinacy as man and artist made him a pioneer of a new way of seeing. Returning always to the same subjects, the Mont Sainte-Victoire, bathing figures, or still lives, he abandoned central perspective, distorted body-shapes, and broke all the traditional rules of landscape painting. Now, a wide range of historians and commentators examine many of Cézanne's works...

A series of 36 lectures on Michelangelo presented by William E. Wallace, professor of art history at Washington University in St. Louis, including more than 900 visuals of Michelangelo's sculptures, paintings, architecture, rough sketches, prepatory drawings, and places where he lived and worked.

Chronicles the life, times, and work of true masters of the art world. Highlights important events in each artist's life through the views of leading authorites, art historians, and scholars.

For over 400 years, Shakespeare's plays have enthralled, moved, and enriched each new generation of readers and theatergoers. This lecture series builds the skills that allow you to reach your own understanding of the plays, to deeply comprehend Shakespeare's transcendent poetic language, the spellbinding world of his great characters and stories, and his revelatory reflections on human experience. The tools you learn are yours for years of enjoyment...

A critical appreciation of the life and work of the mystical poet Rumi. Includes live performances of his poems, as translated by Coleman Barks.

Charles Dickens described London as 'His magic lantern' as was the inspiration for his great works. We visit his home in Doughty Street where he completed Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and others.

Conducting Mahler documents the interpretations of Gustav Mahler's compositions by conductors Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle. The film includes rehearsals and performances of each of Mahler's ten symphonies at the Mahler Festival in May 1995. Mahler : Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen is based on Mahler's 9th symphony. In this film Riccardo Chailly and biographer Henry-Louis de la Grange analyse...

Describes the life and operas of the 19th century Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi. Provides analysis and interpretation.