DVD

This program, divided into segments, presents a biography and visual analysis of Marc Chagall's major works. Born in Russia in 1887, Marc Chagall came to Paris in 1910 and entered the arena of European painting. From his Belorussian and eastern Jewish origins, Chagall brought into play entirely new vistas of irrational perception from dreams, visions and legends.

This program, presents a biography, plus images of Matisse's greatest works. Born in 1869 in France, Henri Matisse is regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century art. He studied law and was working as a clerk when he became seriously ill and was confined to bed for nearly a year. He began drawing to fill the time and soon after, made art his career.

This program presents a biography and visual analysis of Pablo Picasso's major works. In the history of modern art, Pablo Picasso is a nearly mythological figure. Born in Malaga, Picasso was an innovative master of various media and as one of the most prolific artists in history, creating more than 20,000 paintings, sculptures, prints and ceramics using all kinds of materials.

This program presents a biography plus images of Giacometti's greatest works. The son of a painter, Alberto Giacometti was born in 1901 in Italian-speaking Switzerland. At 18, he left school to find himself and soon announced that he would devote his life to art. At 21, Giacometti went to Paris to study with sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, who had been a student of August Rodin.

The works of Belgian surrealist painter Rene Francois Ghislain Magritte make unusual use of common images juxtaposed with unusual contexts that transform the meaning in the familiar.

The early works of Spanish-born Joan Miro shows wide-ranging influences, including the bright colors of the Fauves, the broken form of Cubism and the two-dimensionality of the Catalan folk art. In his early 20s, he settled in Paris, where he met Picasso and fell under the influence of the Surrealist poets and writers. Miro drew on memory and fantasy to create works of visual metaphor.

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.

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.