English

Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky is generally regarded as an originator of abstract painting and one of the most important innovators in modern art, both as an artist and as a theorist. He began painting at the age of 30 after training as a lawyer in Moscow. His talent quickly tested the constraints of art school, and he began exploring his own ideas.

This program presents a biography plus images of Pollock's greatest works. Born in Wyoming in 1912, Jackson Pollock became one of the most notorious artists that America ever produced. He developed a technique in which he would fix his canvas to the floor, drip and splash paint onto it, then use a variety of objects to manipulate the paint.

This program presents a biography and visual analysis of Man Ray's major works. Inventive, audacious, with an effervescent imagination and a continual willingness to call traditional notions of art into question, Man Ray was the quintessential avant-garde artist.

This program presents a biography and visual analysis of Piet Mondrian's major works. Piet Mondrian tested the limits of abstraction in his art. By radically simplifying composition and color, Mondrian sought to express only the universal absolutes that underlie reality, rather than reproducing images of real objects.

Irish-born to English parents, Francis Bacon originally settled in London to build a name for himself as a furniture designer. Quickly turning away from this path, he switched to painting and almost immediately began getting recognition for his new interest.

This program presents a biography plus images of Duchamp's greatest works. Born in 1887 in France, Marcel Duchamp -- painter, sculptor and author -- was associated with Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism, though he avoided any strict alliances. Duchamp's early works were post-Impressionist in style, though he eventually turned toward the avant-garde.

This program presents a biography plus images of Warhol's greatest works. In the early 1960s, Warhol's first Pop paintings -- many of which remain icons of 20th-century art such as the Campbell's Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe screenprints -- catapulted him to fame.

Director Wim Wenders looks at the dramatic tension in the blues between the sacred and the profane by exploring the music and lives of three of his favorite artists: Skip Blues, Blind Wille Johnson and J.B. Lenoir.

During the 1960s, the UK was the location for a vibrant social revolution. The post-war traditional jazz and folk revival movements sowed the seeds- in fertile musical ground - for the roots of a new kind of blues music, entirely influenced by the authentic black blues of the United States.

Director Richard Pearce traces the musical odyssey of blues legend B.B. King in a film that pays tribute to the city that gave birth to a new style of blues. Pearce takes us on the road and behind the scenes with Memphis blues veterans Bobby Rush and Rosco Gordon. Features original performances by B.B. King, Bobby Rush, Rosco Gordon, Ike Turner, Rev.

Charles Burnett explores his own past as a young boy who was shuttled back and forth between Los Angeles and Mississippi, torn between and uncle who loved the blues and a mother who believed the blues was the devil's music.

Hip-hop legend Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and Marshall Chess (son of Leonard Chess and heir to the Chess Records legacy) return to Chicago to explore the heyday of Chicago blues as they unite to produce music that seeks to bring veteran blues players together with contemporary hip-hop musicians such as Common and members of The Rods.

Director - and piano player - Clint Eastwood explores his life-long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of historical acts as well as interviews and performances by legends such as Ray Charles, Fats Domino, and Dr. John.

Director Martin Scorsese winds his way from the banks of the Niger River in Mali to the cotton fields and juke joints of the Mississippi Delta to trace the origins of the blues in a lyrical combination of original performances (including Corey Harris, Willie King, Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', Otha Turner, Habib Koite, Salif Keita, and Alo Fark Toure) and rare archival footage.

This program presents a biography plus images of Dali's greatest works. Born in Spain in 1904, Salvador Dali was one of the 20th century's most controversial and celebrated artists. He is best known for his involvement in the Surrealist movement due to such paintings as The Persistence of Memory, although the leaders of the movement later denounced Dali as overly commercial.