The artist’s life has never been easy, and the best biography movies about artists show us how these people suffer for their talents, and how they carved their own path in life and made their names known, and become an idol for a group of people.
Surviving Picasso
This is one of the best biography movies about artists. It focuses on the romantic life of the great artist Pablo Picasso and his lover Françoise Gilot. The film was created by Arianna Huffington and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, directed by James Ivory, and starring Anthony Hopkins, Natascha McElhone, Julianne Moore, Joss Ackland, Dennis Boutsikaris, and Peter Eyre.
Film Plot
The film starts with the first meeting between Françoise Gilot and Pablo Picasso in 1943, at this time she was a young painter and he was the most famous artist.
Françoise Gilot becomes Picasso’s mistress and muse for ten years, and they have two kids. During this time, she has to put up with his cruelty and infidelity, until she is ready to leave him and move on with her life.
Film Time: 2 hours and 5 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, Romance and Drama.
Goya’s Ghosts
The movie is about the famous artist Francisco Goya and his scandal with his muse Ines, the film was created by Milos Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière, directed by Milos Forman and starring Javier Bardem, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, Randy Quaid, José Luis Gómez and Michael Lonsdale.
Film Plot
One of the best biography movies about artists. It focuses on Goya the famous painter, who found himself in big trouble after his muse Ines was arrested by the Spanish Inquisition and accused of heresy. Her father asks Goya to intervene and save her life, using his connection to Brother Lorenzo whom he was painting at the time.
Film Time: 1 hours and 53 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, history and Drama.
Frida (best biography movies about artists)
One of the best biographies about artists telling us the life story of the painter Frida Kahlo, the film created by Hayden Herrera, Clancy Sigal and Diane Lake, directed by Julie Taymor and starring Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Mía Maestro, Diego Luna and Valeria Golino.
Film Plot
Frida Kahlo is a famous artist, she lives a very interesting life and she was so bold in both her art and also her political opinions. Her personal life is complicated, she lives a romantic relationship with her husband before she is involved in a controversial affair with Leon Trotsky and others.
All her struggles with her temper and her injury make her art so special and put her name side by side with the greatest artist in history.
Film Time: 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, Drama, and Romance.
Lust for Life
If we measure an artist’s greatness by how much they suffer for their art, then Vincent van Gogh will be the greatest in the world. You may learn more about the story of this special and wonderful character in Lust for Life, one of the best biography movies about artists.
The film was created by Norman Corwin and Irving Stone, directed by Vincente Minnelli and George Cukor, and starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown, Everett Sloane, and Niall MacGinnis.
Film Plot
It is the life of one of the greatest artists of all time, Vincent Van Gogh. His life is full of pain and torture, and his obsession with his art lead him to the level of mental illness.
He failed in his job, he also failed in his romantic life, and he could not form a healthy relationship with other artist, and he could not sell any of his artwork during his life except one painting.
Film Time: 2 hours and 2 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, and Drama.
Big Eyes (best biography movies about artists)
The film is about the story of the artist Margaret Kean, and it is one of the best biography movies about artists, the film was created by Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, directed by Tim Burton, and starring Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Krysten Ritter, and Jason Schwartzman.
Film Plot
Margaret Kean is a single mother struggling to make a living for her and her daughter, and she is trying to find a place in San Francisco for her paintings. Her art is unique because of the big eyes she paints for all her characters.
She met another artist “Walter Keane” and they become a couple, but he presents her panting as his own and he gets a lot of money, fame, and appreciations in her place.
Now, Margaret Kean has to prove that the paintings actually belong to her, and give Walter what he really deserves.
Film Time: 1 hours and 46 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, Crime and Drama.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Another one of the best biography movies about artists and the star this time is Johannes Vermeer the famous painter from the 17th century, the film created by Tracy Chevalier and Olivia Hetreed, directed by Peter Webber, and starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt, Cillian Murphy, Essie Davis and Joanna Scanlan.
Film Plot
The film is a dramatized, semi-fictitious account from the writer Tracy Chevalier about the circumstances surround the painting of one of the most famous artworks created by Johannes Vermeer and known as “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.
In the movie, the girl was living in the artist’s house and working as a maid, but there is no historical account of the real character.
Film Time: 1 hours and 40 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, Romance and Drama.
Renoir (best biography movies about artists)
The life story of the great painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and one of the inspiring movies about artists created by Jacques Renoir, Gilles Bourdos and Jérôme Tonnerr, directed by Gilles Bourdos and starring Michel Bouquet, Christa Théret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret, and Romane Bohringer.
Film Plot
Jean Renoir is the son of impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. He is a solider fighting for his home country in World War I, but when he got wounded, he went back to his father’s home.
At his family home, he meets Andrée, the young lady who is changing his and his father’s life and inspires them to make new art.
Film Time: 1 hours and 51 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, History and Drama.
Tim’s Vermeer
Another one of the best biography movies about artists, it documented the life of the great Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer the film created by Penn Jillette and Teller, directed by Teller, and starring Tim Jenison, Penn Jillette, Martin Mull, David Hockney and Colin Blakemore.
Film Plot
Tim Jenison is an inventor who got enchanted by the work of the great Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. He wants to understand his painting techniques and show people how great that Master was.
Film Time: 1 hours and 20 minutes.
Film Type: Documentary, and History.
Little Ashes (best biography movies about artists)
Our artist this time is not like any other artist, he is the most counterfeiter artist known ever, he is Salvador Dalí, the movie created by Philippa Goslett, directed by Paul Morrison and starring Robert Pattinson, Javier Beltrán, Matthew McNulty, Marina Gatell, Esther Nubiola, and Arly Jover.
Film Plot
The film shows us the wonderful life of three of the most exceptional human being, Salvador Dalí, Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Bunel, who became best friends in 1922 at the university of Madrid, and how each one of them makes his own way to fame and success.
Film Time: 1 hours and 52 minutes.
Film Type: Biography, Drama, and History.
