Series 1
(2018)
Overview
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.
Cast
Episodes
Second Moment of Creation 8.0
April 17, 2018
Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity itself. Images and artifacts …
How Do We Look? 5.8
April 24, 2018
Explore the many functions of the human image in art. Portraits, paintings and sculptures, both life-size and colossal,…
God and Art 5.0
May 1, 2018
Trace the relationship between religion and art, which has inspired some of the most ingenious, affecting, majestic and…
Encounters 7.0
May 8, 2018
See how advances in seafaring and a thirst for trade and exploration sent human beings around the planet. Distant and d…
Renaissances 8.0
May 15, 2018
Travel east and west to explore the connections and rivalries between Renaissance Italy and the Islamic empires that ex…
Paradise on Earth 0.0
June 12, 2018
Explore one of humanity’s deepest artistic urges: the depiction of nature. But landscape painting is seldom a straightf…
Color and Light 0.0
June 19, 2018
Explore the story of light and color in art—both in the search for greater realism and spiritual ecstasy. Journey from …
The Cult of Progress 0.0
June 26, 2018
Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology, and see how the “civilizing” project that arose from Enlightenm…
What is Art Good For? 0.0
July 3, 2018
Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change and consider the question: Should art create a…