Artist Portrayals in Movies - Twelve of My Favorite Biopics

In this post, I will discuss movies that are biopics of twelve of my favorite artists, many of whom are portrayed by famous actors and a couple of them by lesser-known actors. Unfortunately, most of these movies don't receive favorable ratings.

Perhaps the most recognizable is Kirk Douglas' portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in "Lust for Life" (one of my favorite movies).

In it, the actor Anthony Quin portrays Van Gogh's friend, Paul Gauguin (not pictured here).

Pablo Picasso has been portrayed by Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas both of whom can be found starring in the movie, "The Mask of Zorro".















Another epic movie, "The Agony and the Ecstacy", stars Charlton Heston as Michelangelo, who is commissioned by Rex Harrison's character (the Pope) to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I would watch that movie again!






I've also watched "Pollock", a sad movie starring Ed Harris ("Apollo 13") as Jackson Pollock and Marcia Gay Harden as his wife and fellow artist, Lee Krasner.

Harris' actress wife, Amy Madigan, portrays Pollock's friend and sponsor, Peggy Guggenheim. Although Harden won the academy award for Best Supporting Actress in this film, it pretty much received sour grapes from audiences.



One of the all-time best landscape artists -- J. M. W. Turner -- was portrayed by actor, Timothy Spall. You may remember him as the character Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter movies as a rat.

Robert Pattinson of the "Twilight" movies appeared in a film about a young Salvador Dali (didn't see it).





Salma Hayek (recently from the hilarious "The Hitman's Bodyguard") plays Frida Kahlo in her biopic, "Frida".






Some other lesser-known biopics include:

 Andy Garcia's ("The Godfather" and the 'Oceans' films) portrayal of Amedeo Modigliani;

John Malkovich's ("Of Mice and Men", "Con Air", "Dangerous Liaisons") biopic "Klimt"; 

French stage and film actor, Michel Bouquet, as Pierre-Auguste Renoir; and

one-time actor Geir Westby as Edvard Munch.

I've also recently watched the 2003 Scarlett Johansson portrayal of the "Girl with a Pearl Earring", also starring Colin Firth as the artist Johannes Vermeer. Her character, Griet, is supposedly a maid and perhaps the subject of the famous painting which is also known as the 'Mona Lisa of the North'.