How Hollywood has portrayed the lives of artists, from Kirk Douglas' Vincent van Gogh to Salma Hayek's Frida Kahlo
Ever since the dawn of the sound era, Hollywood and friends have made a series of elaborate feature films about the lives of the great artists: the cast of colorful characters includes Fredric March as Cellini, Charles Laughton as Rembrandt, George Sanders as Gauguin, José Ferrer as Toulouse-Lautrec, Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh, Charlton Heston as Michelangelo, Mel Ferrer as El Greco—and, more recently, Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat Derek Jacobi as Francis Bacon, Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock, Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo, and many others. To attain box office success, these films have represented the lives of artists in stories that take audiences on a journey from garret to gallery to glamour to gutter to grave. Although sometimes dismissed by art historians and curators, these films can tell us a great deal about how art and artists have entered the cultural bloodstream of Western culture. Until now, there has never been a full-length book devoted to the fascinating story of artists and Hollywood. Based on many years of archive research and interviews with participants, The Hollywood History of Art will appeal to museum and gallerygoers, film buffs, art fans and of course those with fond memories of Kirk Douglas being attacked by crows, Charlton Heston swallowing a mouthful of paint as he frescoes the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Ed Harris dripping brushfuls of paint onto a huge canvas, and Salma Hayek being transported at speed in a four-poster bed to a contemporary art gallery in Mexico City. Christopher Frayling (born 1946) is Professor Emeritus of Cultural History at the RCA and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. His previous books with Reel Art Press include The 2001 File (2015), Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years (2017), Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece (2019) and Sergio Leone by Himself (2024).
Featured image is reproduced from 'The Hollywood History of Art.'
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Featured spreads are from new release The Hollywood History of Art, the newest collaboration between renowned film historian Sir Christopher Frayling and publisher Reel Art Press. Examining artists and artworks represented in mainstream cinema, this is both a scholarly deep-dive and an accessible gift book for lovers of both art and film. Across these particular pages, you see, at top, a publicity photo of Kirk Douglas as Vincent van Gogh in Vincente Minnelli’s 1956 feature, Lust for Life, clutching van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887), across from the real thing. At center, original artworks and archival photographs related to Julie Taymor’s 2002 Frida Kahlo biopic, Frida, alongside shots of Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina recreating these scenes as Kahlo and Diego Rivera. And at bottom, Martin Scorsese photographed on set with Nick Nolte, in character as painter Lionel Dobie, in Life Lessons, the opening segment of New York Stories (1989). continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 12 in. / 368 pgs / 150 color / 150 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $79.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $112.95 ISBN: 9780956648785 PUBLISHER: Reel Art Press AVAILABLE: 11/11/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AFR ME
Published by Reel Art Press. By Christopher Frayling.
How Hollywood has portrayed the lives of artists, from Kirk Douglas' Vincent van Gogh to Salma Hayek's Frida Kahlo
Ever since the dawn of the sound era, Hollywood and friends have made a series of elaborate feature films about the lives of the great artists: the cast of colorful characters includes Fredric March as Cellini, Charles Laughton as Rembrandt, George Sanders as Gauguin, José Ferrer as Toulouse-Lautrec, Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh, Charlton Heston as Michelangelo, Mel Ferrer as El Greco—and, more recently, Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat Derek Jacobi as Francis Bacon, Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock, Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo, and many others.
To attain box office success, these films have represented the lives of artists in stories that take audiences on a journey from garret to gallery to glamour to gutter to grave. Although sometimes dismissed by art historians and curators, these films can tell us a great deal about how art and artists have entered the cultural bloodstream of Western culture.
Until now, there has never been a full-length book devoted to the fascinating story of artists and Hollywood. Based on many years of archive research and interviews with participants, The Hollywood History of Art will appeal to museum and gallerygoers, film buffs, art fans and of course those with fond memories of Kirk Douglas being attacked by crows, Charlton Heston swallowing a mouthful of paint as he frescoes the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Ed Harris dripping brushfuls of paint onto a huge canvas, and Salma Hayek being transported at speed in a four-poster bed to a contemporary art gallery in Mexico City.
Christopher Frayling (born 1946) is Professor Emeritus of Cultural History at the RCA and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. His previous books with Reel Art Press include The 2001 File (2015), Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years (2017), Once Upon a Time in the West: Shooting a Masterpiece (2019) and Sergio Leone by Himself (2024).
