The Impressionists (2006)

The Impressionists, a three part factual drama for BBC ONE, vividly reconstructs the movement's remarkable story.
Based on archive letters, records and interviews from the time, the series records the lives of the artists who were to transform the art world.
It is a tale of poverty and of a struggle for recognition, set against a backdrop of war and revolution.
But at the heart is the brotherhood of artists, bound by enduring friendships and their commitment to a new type of art which survived rows, rivalries, duels and crises.
The story is led by the paintings. Some of the world's most memorable art works are recreated here following the same techniques that the artists used at the time.
The series reveals how Monet took just 40 minutes to paint his seminal work Impression: Sunrise in a race against time to capture the light; why Manet's depiction of Olympia, in which his model brazenly gazes out of the canvas, so outraged Parisian society; and how Cézanne's 60 paintings of one mountain, Montagne Saint-Victoire, laid the foundations for cubism and modern art.