Simon Schama

Art is so much more than pretty pictures. It has power to move, to shock, to inform and to transform. In this groundbreaking and award-winning series, art historian Simon Schama attempts to illustrate the sheer force of the visual image via eight iconic masterpieces. These works were often derided or dismissed when first created, but they went on to change the way we look at the world.

Simon Schama looks at the impact of the Jews and those moments when the Jewish experience - what Jews have thought and written, uttered, mourned and acclaimed - has changed the fate of the world.

Simon Schama explores the history of British portraiture, revealing the stories behind some of the most compelling images in British art. He examines the ways this art form has been used as a statement of power, a declaration of love, to promote fame, to offer insight into the artists and to capture the faces of the British people.