

The Shock of the New
The renowned definitive eight part series on the rise and fall of the modern art movement presented by Australian art critic Robert Hughes.
Sign in to add to your listWhat critics are saying
Verdicts use the same scale as your list: highly recommended through avoid — plus optional scores and blurbs.
Nobody on Critic, Sir! has logged a verdict for this title yet. The silence is either respectful or suspicious.
Sign in and use Add to My List below to share your own verdict.
Trailer
Robert Hughes & the 'dumb show of modern art' (tailpiece from 'The Shock of the New')
Cast
Seasons
- Ep 1
1.The Mechanical Paradise
21-09-198060mThe irruption of the machine as a catalyst for the change in the forms and visions of artists in the early twentieth century. Cubism and Futurism as the movement of modern world an...
- Ep 2
2.The Powers That Be
28-09-198060mAfter the WW1 art is not indifferent to the change that the catastrophe had been. A provocative and ironic art, Dadaism was continued by militant leftist artists in Germany. In Rus...
- Ep 3
3.The Landscape of Pleasure
05-10-1980Throughout the work of the Impressionists, Matisse or Picasso, the principle of pleasure and harmony are present in the art of the twentieth century.
- Ep 4
4.Trouble in Utopia
12-10-1980The architectural utopia of modernity and its aspirations for change and social improvement and its failure.
- Ep 5
5.The Threshold of Liberty
19-10-1980Surrealist painters sought extreme freedom through art, exploring the irrational world as well as the world of dreams.
- Ep 6
6.The View from the Edge
26-10-1980The interior of the mind, the obsessions and the forces that dominate life, form the work of modern artists from van Gogh and Munch, to the American abstract expressionists.
- Ep 7
7.Culture as Nature
02-11-1980In the mid-twentieth century the symbols of modern culture reflect the power of the media. Advertising, radio and television became the subject of artists. Pop art broke into the s...
- Ep 8
8.The Future That Was
09-11-1980The end of modernity makes Robert Hughes raise the trajectory of art and its surroundings during the twentieth century and doubts about its future and achievements.
Watching Lists
Sign in to create and edit public lists.
Loading lists…
Purchase & Discovery
Find this title on Amazon
Digital
Prime Video & digitalAmazon mixes rent, buy, and Prime in one place — one search covers the usual options.
Physical edition
4K Blu-ray & physical releasesSearch on AmazonOfficial merchandise
Official-style merch searchApparel, collectibles, and moreAs an Amazon Associate, Critic, Sir! earns from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure
