Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 explorations of the visual arts, including artistic and architectural styles, historic movements, notable artworks and visual artists.

Radio 4's In Our Time has established itself at the pinnacle of essential conversation on a wide range of subjects from science, history, philosophy and the arts. The programme, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2023, is presented by Melvyn Bragg with contributors from the diverse worlds of academia.

Opening with four contextual episodes - The Artist, Imagination, The Muses, and Architecture and Power - this thematic anthology contains 25 programmes on the history of visual art. Included are artistic styles and movements, from Avant Garde to Bohemianism, and great cultural figures such as Hans Holbein the Younger, Katsushika Hokusai, Frida Kahlo, Michelangelo and William Morris. Also featured are episodes on Baroque, Bauhaus and Surrealism, as well as such iconic artworks as Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, Turner's The Fighting Temeraire, Munch's The Scream and Picasso's Guernica.

How did the artist become a special kind of human being? Why is architecture such a powerful form of expression? These, and many other topics, are discussed in this release. Whether you're an arts student or simply want to broaden your horizons, this enlightening and entertaining compilation will provoke thoughts and debate long after you have finished listening to it.

Production credits

Presented by Melvyn Bragg

Produced by Natalia Fernandez, John Goudie, Thomas Morris, Luke Mulhall and Simon Tillotson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:

Part I: Context

The Artist 28 March 2002

Imagination 28 November 2002

The Muses 19 May 2016

Architecture and Power 31 October 2002

Part II: Styles and Movements

Cave Art 24 September 2020

Vitruvius and De Architectura 15 March 2012

The Baroque Movement 20 November 2008

Bohemianism 9 October 2003

The Decadent Movement 18 November 2021

Bauhaus 10 November 2022

Surrealism 15 November 2001

The Avant Garde's Decline and Fall in the 20th Century 25 February 1999

Part III: Visual Artists

Albrecht Dürer 12 November 2020

Holbein at the Tudor Court 15 October 2015

Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists 27 May 2010

Hokusai 30 March 2017

Berthe Morisot 13 October 2022

Frida Kahlo 9 July 2015

William Morris 5 July 2018

Part IV: Art and Architecture

The Lindisfarne Gospels 20 February 2003

Judith beheading Holofernes 14 February 2019

Angkor Wat 23 June 2022

The Sistene Chapel 31 March 2022

The School of Athens 26 March 2009

Bruegel's The Fight Between Carnival and Lent 15 January 2015

Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People 20 October 2011

The Fighting Temeraire 10 November 2016

Munch and The Scream 18 March 2010

Picasso's Guernica 2 November 2017