In the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874, Claude Monet shocked the world with a new way of seeing. Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon reveals how Monet's flickering brush strokes of vivid colour, once derided as childish and vulgar, eventually led to new ways of painting, most notably in the pure abstraction of Rothko, Pollock and de Kooning.
In the year that marks the 60th anniversary of Joyce's death, poet and critic Tom Paulin examines this truly extraordinary work. Banned for obscenity in the USA and the UK until the 1930s, Irish booksellers did not stock it until as late as the seventies. Scandalous though it was, its "stream of consciousness" style revolutionised the modern novel and influenced everything that followed.
International soprano Barbara Bonney tells the story behind what she describes as Mozart's "perfect" opera. Adapted from a revolutionary and subversive play by Beaumarchais which was banned throughout Europe, the work was an attempt by the young Mozart to make his mark in the competitive world of 18th-century Viennese court opera. Bonney explains how Emperor Joseph used the opera as a barbed message to the aristocracy, and sings passages to illustrate the emotion and wit that Mozart achieved musically. The programme also includes contributions from opera directors Jonathan Miller and Richard Eyre , and clips of performances by Bryn Terfel and Kiri Te Kanawa.
Regarded as a film that marked the birth of contemporary cinematic language, Sergei Eisenstein 's Battleship Potemkin (1925) also remains one of the most heavily censored films of the 20th century, banned by governments fearful of its propaganda for the Bolshevik cause. Film-maker Renny Bartlett tells the story of the making of the film and deconstructs the sequence on the Odessa Steps, six minutes of montage that would inspire such diverse talents as Francis Bacon , Woody Allen , Brian De Palma and Ken Russell.
Writer and critic Germaine Greer explores some of the most exquisitely beautiful poetry in world literature. The Psalms of David were written between the tenth and first centuries BC, by a number of unknown Hebrew poets. More frequently translated than the Bible, they have shaped people's vision of God, inspired extremes of religious devotion, artistic creation and violence.