Man en Kunst - Episode Guide

Paula Modersohn-Becker was the first woman to paint nude portraits of herself, primitive and full of feeling. In the first episode, Lucas delves into the life story of this unique artist who hesitated between a life in fashionable Paris and an artist colony in the German countryside. He views her dramatic 'Self-portrait with hat and veil' in the Kunstmuseum The Hague and travels to Worpswede, Germany, where Paula spent much of her life.

Numerous famous photographers have been influenced by the work of the German couple Bernd and Hilla Becher. They overwhelmed the art world with their sober, extremely precise black-and-white photos of industrial buildings, from blast furnaces to coal mines. Lucas looks at remnants of former industry in the Ruhr area. In addition, he discusses the no fewer than 85 photos of a coal mine in the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.

The third episode focuses on the painting 'Satire on the exodus of the clergy from 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629' from the Noordbrabants Museum. The creator of this special work, the seventeenth century Cornelis Saftleven, specialized in cartoons with animals in the leading role and is said to have even worked with Rubens during his career! 

James Ensor was the Belgian with the English name, the man behind the masks, the painter who also composed ballet music and who had a city as a muse instead of a woman: Ostend! The starting point for the episode about the life story of James is the painting 'La Gamme d'Amour' in the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht.

Art does not only hang or stand in museums. The work of André Volten can be found everywhere in public space. Lucas goes in search of his work in various places in the country - in parks, on squares, near buildings, the sculpture garden of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo and even in the palace gardens of Drakesteyn and Huis ten Bosch.