Everybody loves movies, and all of us can agree that filmmaking is a form of art. But what about movies that are specifically about the arts? Do they provide a double dose of inspiration?
We’re not sure–inspiration is a little hard to measure– but we do know that watching such movies can be an enlightening, motivational experience for college students who are still discovering their artistic passions. Seeing someone else, even a fictional character, pursue their creative endeavors is relatable enough, and cheering them on as they overcome challenges just feels right in a world in which the arts are often sidelined for more “serious” fields. In the interest of spreading those good vibrations, we’re listing here some of the best art movies for college students. If you’re feeling burned out or in doubt about your future, these films can reignite that creative spark and get you back on your artistic journey.
Defining the Best Movies About Art: What Does That Mean?
If you’ve ever sought literature homework help online, you’ve likely been told the importance of defining your terms in an essay. To do our due diligence here, we should probably clarify what we mean by “art films.”
Whereas “art film” can denote a film that carries serious artistic messages, one that appeals to niche audience rather than the mainstream, we’re defining it as a film that literally concerns the lives of artists and the process of making art. Think movies about painting, art history, or biopics that explore famous artists’ personal, sometimes eccentric stories. While different in tone and setting, all of these films demonstrate an appreciation for the arts as a cultural cornerstone of our society. In showing their belief in the importance of artistic creativity – enough to make entire films about its different aspects – we hope to inspire college students to learn about their favorite artists or pick up a brush themselves.
A Tribute to a Mexican Icon: Frida
On that note, let’s start off our painting movies with a biopic about one of the most important and iconic artists of the twentieth century. Released in 2002, Frida follows the life and work of Frida Kahlo, whose surrealistic, probing explorations of race and gender painted (literally) a complex picture of Mexican society at the time.
While the film covers Kahlo’s sensational personal life, rife with tragedy and pain, it never forgets its appreciation for its main subject’s artistic contributions to the world. Multiple scenes begin with shots of Kahlo’s actual paintings, and multiple live-action scenes are constructed based on the compositions of others. It’s no wonder the American Film Institute described Frida as a “work of art in itself,” that “art is best enjoyed when it moves, breathes and is painted on a giant canvas, as only the movies can provide.” We consider such words to be a testament to the film’s sincerity.
A Fully Painted Film? Loving Vincent
Up next, we have a stunning achievement in Loving Vincent, which stands tall among movies about artists as the first fully painted feature film. That’s right: the entire movie is composed of 65,000 oil paintings, animated together by 125 artists who sought to imitate its subject’s distinct style.
The story of its creation isn’t just a gimmick, either. Loving Vincent is also, even as far as art movies go, beautifully tragic. It follows the final days of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, exploring the circumstances surrounding his death. Told one year after van Gogh committed suicide, the story feels like an investigation of sorts, as its main characters retrace the artist’s final steps around Paris and question, at first, the manner of how he died. While on its own compelling, the film’s plot combined with its dazzling visuals make, for all art lovers, for both a unique and memorable experience.
A Tale of Art and Justice: Woman in Gold
Speaking of films about art with a touch of mystery, Woman in Gold sees Helen Mirren reenact the true story of Maria Altmann’s fight to reclaim ownership of her family’s art, which was stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Altmann was a Jewish refugee whose aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, was immortalized in Gustav Klimt’s iconic gold-leaf painting of the same name. With the help of lawyer Randy Schoenberg, played here by Ryan Reynolds, Altmann won her case before the U.S. Supreme Court and thus reclaimed her family’s ownership of Klimt’s artwork from the Austrian government.
Aside from being a heroic (and true) story, Woman in Gold investigates artistic ownership as a function of historic justice. Altmann herself was not a painter, but her struggle to rectify the crimes committed against her family shows us that art has serious symbolic importance. History lovers and artists alike will appreciate the film’s message.
Owen Wilson Takes Romantic France: Midnight in Paris
As a writer, I myself have fantasized about having someone famous (and frankly more skilled) do my assignment for me.
Maybe that’s why I identify so closely with Owen Wilson’s character in Midnight in Paris, which begins with writer Gil Pender’s struggle to finish his debut novel. But there’s a twist. While drunk one night, his relationship with his fiancée increasingly fraught, Pender is transported back in time to the 1920s, where he begins to meet iconic figures of the Paris art scene. Each night, Pender mingles with people like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Edgar Degas, gallivanting around Paris with all of its romantic, idyllic charm. Sure, its time-travel mawkishness requires viewers, to some extent, to suspend their disbelief, but once they do so, the simple “who’s who” of Parisian art become a fun game. If Pender is disillusioned in the present day, he comes alive upon revisiting his original inspirations–and so it should go with artists everywhere.
An Exploration of Eccentricity: Mr. Turner
This film was nominated for four Academy Awards after its release in 2014, and it’s easy to see why. Without exactly hiding the ball, Mr. Turner follows the later life of English painter J. M. W. Turner as portrayed by Timothy Spall. The film masterfully weaves Turner’s eccentric personal exploits, like soliciting prostitutes, with his controversial, often perceived as radical, artistic flair.
Anyone who’s seen a Turner in real life can surely, if not enjoy it themselves, appreciate its attention to detail, distinct manipulation of light, and airy richness. Not to stray from its source material, Mr. Turner pays adequate tribute to the man’s living seascapes, representations of nature – in one scene, Turner has himself tied to the mast of a ship during a snowstorm so as to capture its “essence” – and capacity for instinctive genius. Artists who watch this movie can, if nothing else, identify with such devotion to the craft.
A Film About Taking Artistic Credit: Big Eyes
From the start, this film promises excitement befitting of its star power, which includes Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, and director Tim Burton itself. Unlike other Burton movies, though, Big Eyes is a non-gothic work of biodrama; it follows the life of Margaret Keane, who famously painted portraits of women with big eyes, and her Walter, who for years passed off Margaret’s handiwork as his own.
This movie carries themes that should resonate with many artists watching, especially those who have ever felt marginalized, sidelined, even (for women) upstaged by more powerful men. Margaret’s talent is real, it’s evident from the jump, but the film’s premise is not built upon her artistic journey so much as a herculean effort just to be recognized for it. For that reason, Big Eyes evokes the relentless drive for self-expression which motivates all artists simply to create, and, after the fact, to have their creations appreciated.
From Modesty, Overcoming Tragedy: Maudie
Among the movies on this list, 2016’s Maudie stands out for a few reasons. One is its setting: rural Nova Scotia, with stunning, on-location shots of the Canadian seaside. Another is its subject, which, unique among artists here, was known for her folk art.
That’s right: the film is about the life of Maud Lewis, who is hired as a housekeeper by a fisherman before falling in love with and marrying him. Despite personal tragedies, including crippling arthritis and the pain of having lost her infant child, Mauda begins selling her art from her house with increasing popularity. The movie speaks to the fact that artists, even with modest means and lifelong obstacles, can make something of themselves with passion and perseverance. The real Maud Lewis lived her life in poverty, and now her image, tiny house, and, of course, artwork live on as emblems of Canada’s rich folk art tradition.
The Sole Documentary Here: The Price of Everything
We tried to limit inclusion of documentaries on this list, primarily because they lack the dramatization and storytelling that can inspire artists to reconnect with their craft. However, we’re making an exception for The Price of Everything, which discusses the contemporary art market, why it’s so lucrative, and who are the big players involved.
Director Nathaniel Kahn interviews artists, dealers, collectors, historians, and auctioneers to “paint” a complete picture of an art world which, in one critic’s estimation, is entertaining and “profoundly disturbing.” We believe contemporary art too often gets a bad rap, subject to unfair stereotypes of tastelessness and pretension, and so we appreciate Kahn’s well-roundedness in trying to educate viewers about the art market without denigrating its actual commodities. Artists who consider themselves “contemporary” or “modern” may even learn something about promoting their own work – or at least understand better the kookiness of the world they’re stepping into.
Professor Julia Roberts? Mona Lisa Smile
Speaking of appreciating modern art, here’s a film which does just that, despite its being named after a Da Vinci painting that’s definitely not modern. Mona Lisa Smile sees Julia Roberts play Katherine Watson, an art history professor at Wellesley College who challenges her all-female students to become open-minded about what makes for “good art” and what paths they can take in life.
Taking place in the 1950s, the movie gets credit for weaving together the beauty of freedom in both the artistic and personal worlds. Professor Watson advocates for more inclusive views about what art should be, but she also spends much of the film encouraging her students to pursue careers if they want to, not just become housewives and mothers by default. In this way, Mona Lisa Smiles identifies that freedom of the self and that of the artist are intricately connected, and artists watching can relate that it’s hard to unlock the latter without properly nurturing the former.
Finally, a Giant of New York City: Basquiat
We’re ending this list with another powerful biopic, this time about New York icon Jean-Michel Basquiat, who spearheaded America’s Neo-Expressionist movement in the 1980s before cementing his legacy with an early death at age 27.
Released less than a decade after Basquiat’s death, the film gives viewers a tour of 1980s New York through the eyes of its most famous artists and art dealers; David Bowie makes an appearance as Andy Warhol, as does Gary Oldman as Albert Milo. And while its tragic ending always looms beyond the plot, the film’s main stretch is colorful, passionate, and respectful of Basquiat’s contributions to modern art. It’s a powerful reminder that art takes many forms, and can even, as Basquiat showed the world, be baked into a city’s own walls. Artists who lack professional resources, see the world as their canvas, or simply revel in iconoclasm will therefore enjoy Basquiat’s uncompromising authenticity.
The Significance of Art Films and Film Art
We’re not recommending these movies about art just because they’re good movies, although they are. Specifically, we hope that they speak to college students who are majoring in art, design, or any creative field, for whom creativity itself is their greatest asset, and that which is most critical to keep vital.
We think the best art films show us artists all the different ways in which that creative spark can stay alive, and why it’s important that it must. How easy would it have been for Maud Lewis, living in poverty in her shabby home, to cast off her artistic ambitions as unnecessary? Why was it important for Margaret Keane to reclaim credit for her artwork from her plagiaristic husband, whom she took to court for slander to do so? Why did Maria Altmann, both in Woman in Gold and the real world, elevate her case to the Supreme Court in order to reacquire paintings that were stolen from her family by the Nazis, even long after the subjects of those paintings were dead and gone?
The answer, to all of these questions, is that art matters. It matters for artists, for those who appreciate art, for those who test the limits of their own creativity in order to express themselves or send a powerful message, whatever that may be. Art is a form of freedom that adds unparalleled meaning to our lives. College students who create or study art should feel proud of their endeavors to advance that meaning even further.
The Power of Art Movies
We’ve recapped a big range of art films that are about, themselves, a big range of artists, from Van Gogh to Turner to Basquiat. All of them occupy different places in a very long artistic tradition, and yet all of them, when stared at in a museum, or dramatized on the big screen, can teach us something about ourselves.
We hope that these ten films, though a small sliver of the genre, are able to teach you something about yourself. If you’re a college student who’s lost some of your mojo recently, don’t worry: it’s not gone forever. After all, sometimes all it takes to revive a fire is a little oxygen, even a modest puff of air. Art is like that, too; watch a film and see how it speaks to you. Before long, you’ll be well on your way to invoking your creative side. We’ll be all the better for it.