25 Best Art Documentaries You Can Watch On Netflix Right Now

Image via Complex Original

Waste Land

Director: Pedro Kos

Year released: 2010

This film follows Brazilian artist Vik Muniz for two years as he creates works using garbage and recycled materials. From scourging landfills for materials to the completion of his giant mosaics, we see Muniz's work come to life.

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Blank City

Director: Celine Danhier

Year released: 2010

Erotic photographer Richard Kern and transgressive filmmakers Casandra Stark and John Waters were at the forefront of the underground film movement in New York City during the early '80s. This documentary explores the work of these three figures as well as the innovative movies created by other members of this period in film history.

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Paris Was a Woman

Director: Greta Schiller

Year released: 1996

Along with Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Paris was crawling with women artists and writers in the early 20th century. This documentary focuses on the group of women creatives that flourished during the city's post-war cultural awakening.

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Ballets Russes

Directors: Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller

Year released: 2005

When the groudbreaking dance company Ballet Russes exploded on the scene in the early 1900s, it challenged everything European audiences knew about ballet. The innovative company pushed the boundaries of traditional dance with help from famous collaborators like Pablo Picasso and Igor Stravinsky. This documentary explores the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a branch of the original Ballet Russes that broke off from the company in 1938 after disagreements among management.

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Bill Cunningham New York

Director: Richard Press

Year released: 2010

New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham has been snapping pictures of the stylish people of New York from his bicycle for most of his life. This documentary explores the life and work of one of the most important fashion photographers of all time.

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A Model for Matisse

Director: Barbara Freed

Year released: 2005

This film explores an unlikely friendship between the famed painter and Dominican nun Sister Jacques-Marie. In doing so, it sheds new light on Mattisse's stained-glass work in a chapel in France.

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Strand: Under the Dark Cloth

Director: John Walker

Year released: 1989

This documentary follows the American modernist photographer Paul Strand, an influential figure who helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century.

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Beauty Is Embarrassing

Director: Neil Berkeley

Year released: 2012

Wayne White is a quirky American artist who designs giant puppets, builds sets and draws cartoons. This documentary is anything but a stiff biography as it traces White's considerably eclectic career.

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2501 Migrants: A Journey

Director: Yolanda Cruz

Year released: 2009

Mexican artist Alejandro Santiago spent years making clay models of over 2,000 migrant workers who abandoned their homes in a secluded mountainous town in Mexico in search for work. This documentary explores Santiago's tribute to the harsh life these workers endured far from home.

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Art Is...The Permanent Revolution

Director: Manfred Kirchheimer

Year released: 2012

Three contemporary graphic artists look back through art history to explore its revolutionary power. What begins as a discussion about big names like Goya, Rembrandt and Picasso culminates in three new works by the subjects of the film.

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Just Like Being There

Director: Scout Shannon

Year released: 2012

Although a t-shirt is the quintessential concert souvenir, gig posters have also gained popularity among music lovers. Shannon's movie traces the lives of the artists that brought iconic gig posters to the mainstream.

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Art of Conflict

Director: Valeri Vaughn

Year released: 2012

Who knew that Vince Vaughn had an interest in street art or in foreign politics? For this film, the actor narrates a movie about murals in Northern Ireland that have popped-up as responses to turmoil and violence in the region.

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Graffiti Verite 1: Writing on the Wall

Director: Bob Bryan

Year released: 1995

This film takes you into the underground world of graffiti art, following 24 Los Angeles street artists as they discuss their influences and the evolution of the gritty medium.

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Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow

Director: Sophie Fiennes

Year released: 2010

In 1991, German artist Anselm Kiefer strove to create a Gesamtkunstwerk, a work that attempts to combine all forms of art to create a univeral piece. Working in an abandoned silk factory in Barjac, France, Kiefer embarked on this ambitious project. Kiefer's work consisted of installations, paintings, and sculptures in the huge studio space. This film documents his monumental project.

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Eames: The Architect and The Painter

Directors: Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey

Year released: 2011

The couple Charles and Ray Eames rose to fame in the '50s with their signature furniture. The Eames chair is still a design staple today, and has even been 3D printed. This film explores the life of some of America's most important designers.

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Brooklyn Boheme

Directors: Nelson George and Diane Paragas

Year released: 2011

From director Spike Lee, to performer Chris Rock, to artist Lorna Simpson, this film tells the story of the black arts movement that emerged in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood in the '80s.

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The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins

Director: Pietra Brettkelly

Year released: 2008

Performance artist Vanessa Beecroft became seemingly obsessed with adopting Sudanese twins, an act that would have made her the first foreigner to adopt children from South Sudan. The film paints a critical portrait of Beecroft as a neo-colonialist.

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The Rape of Europa

Directors: Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, and Nicole Newnham

Year released: 2006

During WWII, the Nazi's plundered priceless artworks across Europe. Today, even American museums have refused to return some of this art to Holocaust survivors' relatives. This film, based on a book of the same name (a title pulled from a Titian painting), explores this dark period in art history.

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The Woodmans

Director: Scott Willis

Year released: 2010

Francesca Woodman's photographs of nude women (including herself) in the '70s were extremely scandalous for their time. Her images have lasting power even after her premature death at age 22. This documentary tells the story of Woodman's family life.

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Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe

Director: James Crump

Year released: 2007

In her 2010 book Just Kids, punk goddess Patti Smith reminisces on her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe who's striking black-and-white images shocked and entranced the art world in the '80s. In this film, Smith again acts as Mapplethorpe's storyteller, recounting the relationship between the photographer and his lover, curator Sam Wagstaff.

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The Art of the Steal

Director: Don Argott

Year released: 2009

Albert C. Barnes had one of the finest collections of Post-Impressionist paintings in his home in a suburb of Philadelphia. After his death in 1951, the house was turned into a museum. Last year, Barnes' collection moved to the heart of Philadelphia, despite the fact that it went against the collector's will. This film reveals the legal and financial concerns surrounding this move.

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Gerhard Richter Painting

Director: Corinna Belz

Year released: 2011

In May, Gerhard Richer broke his own record for a sale of a painting by any living artist with a work priced at $37 million. This documentary takes a look at the overwhelming success of the German painter, exploring his signature "blur" style, where he pulls a squeegee over works painted from source photographs.

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Exit Through the Giftshop

Director: Banksy

Year released: 2010

We still don't know the elusive Bankysy's identity, despite a false report that he had been found out earlier this year. Yet the British street artist keeps producing biting works across the world. In this film, Banksy takes on the role of director, telling the story of L.A. street artist Thierry Guetta who started as Banky's protege, a relationship that swiftly changed as Guetta grew increasingly financially successful.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

Director: Tamra Davis

Year released: 2010

Jean-Michel Basquiat's blow-out show at Gagosian Gallery this February established a renewed interest in the '80s New York artist. In this documentary, we see how the street artist rose to international fame. Davis also includes a rare interview with the artist before his death at age 27.

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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Director: Alison Klayman

Year released: 2012

This year, Ai Weiwei's imprisonment in China inspired the music videos for his metal record "Dumbass." It also meant that his mother had to attend the Venice Biennale in his stead. This documentary follows three years in the artist's life from his inflammatory art works to his ongoing trouble with Chinese authorities.

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