Five films about artists, from Frida Kahlo to Banksy

From biopics to documentaries, these flicks provide a deeper insight to some of the world's best-known creatives

Salma Hayek earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Photo: Miramax

Artists can often be as fascinating as their work. Whether they live public or more private lives, filmmakers have long attempted to understand the people behind some of history's most famous works of art.

But how much do we learn about the artists from watching a film or a documentary about them? Here are five films and documentaries that offered us a glimpse into the captivating lives of some of the most well-known and appreciated artists of our time, with varying degrees of artistic licence.

Rembrandt (1936)

Hungary-born British filmmaker Alexander Korda was fascinated by the private lives of some of the most interesting figures in history – real and imagined. After making films about Henry VIII, Catherine the Great and Don Juan, he directed a film on the life of Dutch master Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, better known as simply Rembrandt.

Starring Charles Laughton as Rembrandt van Rijn, the film focused on the great artist’s relationships, his painting process and how he navigated his life in 17th-century Holland. It is clear that Korda and Laughton both hold great reverence for Rembrandt throughout the film, but they don’t shy away from showing him as a complicated man who happens to be extremely talented.

Basquiat (1996)

Jean-Michel Basquiat is perhaps one of the greatest American oost-modernist artists of the 20th century. His work lives on to inspire generations long after his untimely death at the age of 27 in 1988. During his lifetime, he was a close friend of Andy Warhol and primarily worked within the New York art scene of the 1980s.

Basquiat’s life was examined in a 1996 film directed by Julian Schnabel with Jeffrey Wright playing the role of the artist. The film also boasts a star-studded cast that includes David Bowie, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Benicio del Toro and Courtney Love. Film critic Roger Ebert said of Wright’s portrayal of Basquiat: “He is dreamy, sweet and pensive. There are deep hurts and angers.”

Frida (2002)

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is now a symbol of her country’s artistic expression, but during her lifetime, she led an interesting and tumultuous life. The surrealist painter, who lived from 1907 to 1954, was portrayed on screen by Salma Hayek in a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination.

Directed by theatre director turned filmmaker Julie Taymor, the film not only shed alight on the life of the artist, but used her art to accentuate the storyline – incorporating it into dream sequences and the like. While Hayek missed out on an Oscar win, the film picked up two Academy Awards for Best Make-up and Best Original Score.

The film also focuses on Kahlo’s love life and her relationships with her husband Diego Rivera, played by Alfred Molina, as well as her romance with Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, played by Geoffrey Rush.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Most people will know Banksy and his work, but no one really knows who Banksy is. Is it one person? A collective of artists? Some people say they know, but the fun is in not knowing. The elusive artist has fascinated both the art world and the general public for years with his graffiti and stencil work, which has taken on a political and social stance.

In 2010, Banksy surprised the world with a documentary, which he supposedly directed. Exit Through the Gift Shop is narrated by Banksy, but it’s not so much about him, but rather about a French pop artist named Thierry Guetta, who goes by the moniker Mr Brainwash.

In the documentary, Banksy lampoons the modern art trade and its fascination with him and other street artists by exposing Guetta as nothing more than a fraud and a chancer. Was it all real? Who knows, but it’s both entertaining and informative.

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (2012)

Performance art is, perhaps, the most tangible form of art expression in that it only lives on in the minds of those who experience it. A portrait is seen, a piece of music is heard and a film is watched, but performance art is the artist themselves performing something that is often hard to explain or interpret unless you are there to experience it.

Marina Abramovic is one of the most famous performance artists in the world, with a career spanning from the 1970s to the present day. By 2010, Abramovic wanted to perform her most ambitious performance art piece named The Artist is Present, in which she sat at a table at the Museum of Modern Art (Moma) in New York, and anyone could sit across from her.

Abramovic did this every day for three months, sitting on that seat for hours on end, not saying a word, not reacting. Only being present. The performance was a phenomenon, and visitors stood in line for hours for a chance to experience it. The performance, its preparation and execution, are all shown in a documentary called Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present. In it, we see what Abramovic was experiencing before and after each sitting, and how she felt about some of the people she was sitting across from, giving viewers insight into the process of performance art.

A highlight is when her former partner Frank Uwe Laysiepen, better known as Ulay sat across from her. The pair had not seen each other for years and it is one of the rare times Abramovic reacted to the person in front of her.