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All Episodes

The Second Moment of Creation

Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity.

How Do We Look?

Explore how we look at the human body in art.

God and Art

Consider how religion has inspired art and art has inspired divine representation.

Encounters

See how art became the great interface when distant cultures met for the first time.

Renaissances

Travel east and west— to Renaissance Italy and the contemporaneous Islamic empires.

Paradise on Earth

Explore one of humanity’s deepest artistic urges: the depiction of nature.

Color and Light

Explore light and color in art in the search for greater realism and spiritual ecstasy.

The Cult of Progress

Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology.

What Is Art Good For?

Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change.

About Civilizations

Survey the history of art, from antiquity to the present, on a global scale. Civilizations reveals the role art and creative imagination have played in forging humanity, and introduce viewers to works of beauty, ingenuity and illumination across cultures. Liev Schreiber narrates.

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