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Civilisations

6.9

2018•1h

The story of art from the dawn of human history to the present day—for the first time on a global scale. Inspired by Civilisation, Kenneth Clark’s acclaimed landmark 1969 series about Western art, this series broadens the canvas to reveal the role art and the creative imagination have played across multiple cultures and civilizations.

Production

Production

Available For Free On

Trailers & Videos

Thumbnail for video: CIVILIZATIONS | Official Trailer | PBS

CIVILIZATIONS | Official Trailer | PBS

Seasons

9 Episodes • Premiered 2018

Survey the history of art, from antiquity to the present, on a global scale. Civilizations reveals the role art and creative imagination have played in forging humanity, and introduce viewers to works of beauty, ingenuity and illumination across cultures. Liev Schreiber narrates.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 1: Second Moment of Creation

1. Second Moment of Creation

5.5

Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity itself. Images and artifacts found in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and South America testify to the urge to develop civilizations. Liev Schreiber narrates.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 2: How Do We Look?

2. How Do We Look?

4.3

Explore the many functions of the human image in art. Portraits, paintings and sculptures, both life-size and colossal, perform a role—assuaging loss, expressing strength, inspiring fear—and were instrumental in depicting the human body today.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 3: God and Art

3. God and Art

2.3

Trace the relationship between religion and art, which has inspired some of the most ingenious, affecting, majestic and breathtaking works of art ever made. Yet beneath great works of religious art often lie conflict, intrigue and divine mysteries.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 4: Encounters

4. Encounters

3.0

See how advances in seafaring and a thirst for trade and exploration sent human beings around the planet. Distant and disparate cultures met for the first time, and art became the great interface by which civilizations understood each other.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 5: Renaissances

5. Renaissances

3.3

Travel east and west to explore the connections and rivalries between Renaissance Italy and the Islamic empires that experienced their own cultural flowering in the 15th and 16th centuries. Both spheres were open to influences flowing both ways.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 6: Paradise on Earth

6. Paradise on Earth

1.0

Explore one of humanity’s deepest artistic urges: the depiction of nature. But landscape painting is seldom a straightforward portrayal of observed nature; it's a projection of dreams, idylls, escapes and refuges—the elusive paradise on earth.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 7: Color and Light

7. Color and Light

1.0

Explore the story of light and color in art—both in the search for greater realism and spiritual ecstasy. Journey from Gothic cathedrals and Indian courtly painting to modern art.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 8: The Cult of Progress

8. The Cult of Progress

1.0

Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology, and see how the “civilizing” project that arose from Enlightenment ideas was fraught with contradictions that troubled European artists in different ways.

Still image for Civilisations season 1 episode 9: What is Art Good For?

9. What is Art Good For?

1.5

Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change and consider the question: Should art create a separate realm, a place of escape, or should it plunge into the chaos, transforming the way we see and live in the world?

Cast

Photo of Liev Schreiber

Liev Schreiber

Narrator

Photo of Simon Schama

Simon Schama

self

Photo of Jamal J. Elias

Jamal J. Elias

self

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Reviews

T

TriceratopsAU

1/10

My goodness, what an absurd attempt at a documentary. Tedious and full of factual errors. I can't believe I actually used to respect Simon Schama. Bizarre that he participated in this ridiculous nonsense for the BBC. Alas, yet another person who has bent the knee.

If anyone would like to watch a much superior documentary about art and it's effects on the Western world I recommend the original version of this series, Civilisation (1969). It's hosted by Kenneth Clark, a gentleman who would be aghast at seeing what the BBC has turned into.

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