Entertainment
The Best Movies About Art & Artists
List Rules
Movies must feature art prominently.
Here is a list of the best art movies ever made. This is a list not of "art films" but of movies that feature art, painters, and artists as a central theme. We tried to include all of the best ones here, but if you believe we missed one, please feel free to add it to the list yourself. All genres have been included. Movies about art can be fascinating and these are the best art films of that genre. The drama, adventure, and politics involved in the creation of famous art can be mind-boggling. And as far as artists go, let us not forget that, "There is no great genius without some touch of madness."
While we might not all enjoy going to the museum to view our favorite works of art, the art films on this list are incredibly accessible and can be enjoyed by almost anyone. If you don't see your favorite art film on this list of the best art films, make sure to add it so others can get a little bit of your good (art film) taste.
What are the best art movies? Take a look at this list and you'll see what are the top movies about artists.
Ranked by
- 1Jeffrey Wright, Michael Wincott, Benicio Del Toro
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Julian Schnabel
Despite living a life of extreme poverty in Brooklyn, graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright) strives to rise up through the heady New York art scene of the 1970s and 1980s. He becomes ...more - 2Banksy, Mr. Brainwash, Space Invader
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Banksy
The infamous, shadowy British graffiti street artist Banksy has literally left his mark on cities throughout the world. He comes in contact with Thierry Guetta, a Los Angeles-based Frenchman who ...more - 3Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Peter Webber
When her father goes blind, Griet (Scarlett Johansson) must go to work as a maid for painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). While cleaning the house, Griet strikes up an unlikely friendship with ...more - 4Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Julie Taymor
This is the true story of Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) and her husband Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), the larger-than-life painters who became the most acclaimed artists in Mexican history, and whose ...more - 5Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Amy Madigan
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Ed Harris
In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: "Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back into the life of an ...more - 6Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac
- Released: 2018
- Directed by: Julian Schnabel
Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him. - 7Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston
- Released: 2014
- Directed by: Tim Burton
In the late 1950s and early '60s, artist Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) achieves unbelievable fame and success with portraits of saucer-eyed waifs. However, no one realizes that his wife, Margaret ...more - 8Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Everett Sloane
- Released: 1956
- Directed by: Vincente Minnelli
This lauded drama depicts the life of revered Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (Kirk Douglas). An intense and imaginative artist, Van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental ...more - 9Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko
- Released: 1966
- Directed by: Andrei Tarkovsky
An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev (Anatoliy Solonitsyn). Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking ...more - 10Tim Roth, Paul Rhys, Adrian Brine
- Released: 1990
- Directed by: Robert Altman
Vincent & Theo is a 1990 biographical drama film directed by Robert Altman, starring Tim Roth and Paul Rhys. The movie is an exploration of the relationship between Vincent van Gogh and his art ...more - 11Robert Crumb
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Terry Zwigoff
Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff creates a complex but affectionate portrait of his longtime friend, underground cartoonist Robert Crumb. A notorious curmudgeon who would prefer to be alone with his fellow ...more - 12Daniel Day-Lewis, Ray McAnally, Brenda Fricker
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Jim Sheridan
No one expects much from Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a ...more - 13Douglas Booth, Robert Gulaczyk, Eleanor Tomlinson
- Released: 2017
- Directed by: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman
Mystery surrounds the death of famed painter Vincent van Gogh in 1890 France. - 14Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento
- Released: 1965
- Directed by: Carol Reed
During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) contracts the influential artist Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and ...more - 15Andy Garcia, Eva Herzigová, Peter Capaldi
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Mick Davis
Modigliani is a 2004 American-French-German-Italian drama biographical film written and directed by Mick Davis and starring Andy García, Elsa Zylberstein, Omid Djalili, Hippolyte Girardot, Eva ...more - 16Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey
- Released: 2014
- Directed by: Mike Leigh
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall) lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper (Dorothy Atkinson) ...more - 17Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Laurent Grévill
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Bruno Nuytten
When renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin (Gérard Depardieu) notices the raw sculpting talent of the beautiful and precocious Camille Claudel (Isabelle Adjani), the two artists begin a scandalous ...more - 18Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Céline Sciamma
In 1770 the young daughter of a French countess develops a mutual attraction to the female artist commissioned to paint her wedding portrait. - 19Carrie Getman, Tomas Spencer, Christian Serritiello
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Arthur Patching, Christian Serritiello
Gelateria is a 2019 German drama film directed by Arthur Patching and Christian Serritiello. - 20Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Woody Allen
Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist. Vacationing in Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams), he has taken to touring the city alone. On one such late-night excursion, Gil ...more - 21Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Dan Gilroy
After paintings by an unknown artist are discovered, a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art. - 22Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Serge Larivière
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Martin Provost
Seraphine is a 2008 film directed by Martin Provost. - 23Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Donald Sutherland
- Released: 2013
- Directed by: Giuseppe Tornatore
Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush), the director of an esteemed auction house, falls in love with a reclusive young heiress. After he shows her his priceless collection of portraits, she soon disappears ...more - 24Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten, Francois Reichenbach
- Released: 1973
- Directed by: Orson Welles
Orson Welles' final film documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged ...more - 25Nigel Terry, Sean Bean, Michael Gough
- Released: 1986
- Directed by: Derek Jarman
This fictional portrait of Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) follows the painter as he wanders the streets, often using prostitutes and homeless people as ...more
