Ride the visions of Hieronymus Bosch, explore the legends surrounding the construction of the Opéra Garnier in Paris, follow the vicissitudes of The lady with an ermine by Leonardo and then getting lost in the themes of love and death, jealousy and desire contained in Titian’s masterpieces, which captivate with their disarming topicality.
It is an agenda that ranges from architecture to painting what the small screen has in store for the week. Here are the events not to be missed from 22 to 28 August.

On Sky Arte all at the Opéra
On Sky Arte the week comes alive, Wednesday 24 August at 5.15 pm, with four women – Cecilia, Isabella, Izabela, Melitta – teenagers who have made history thanks to a masterpiece: The lady with an ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. Held today at the Princes Czartoryski Museum, part of the National Museum of Krakow, the work shows how the master was able to grasp an instant of reality like no other before him – the birth of a smile, the movement of the eyes, the sudden turning of the girl – with a precision that makes the painting the first ante litteram photographic portrait.
The documentary The Ladies with an Ermine, broadcast on Sky Arte, will retrace the life of these women closely linked to Leonardo’s masterpiece. Rare black and white films will give way to immersive shots that catapult viewers into Renaissance Italy, but also into 19th-century Poland and today’s Krakow.

Leonardo da Vinci, Lady with an Ermine, about 1487-1490, Oil on wood, 40.3 x 54.8 cm, National Museum of Krakow

Thursday 25 August, at 9.15 pm, a first vision leads us to the Paris Opera, to discover the legends that revolve around the construction of the Opéra Garnier, but above all the history of this place of culture, a symbol of the national rebirth From 16 October 1923 historical monument of France, the Garnier theater was the first theater of the Ville Lumière.
From architecture to painting. The Poems of Titian – a series of paintings made by the artist at the height of his creative maturity for the sovereign Philip II of Spain between 1551 and 1562 – are instead the focus of the documentary Titian: love, desire, death, broadcast on Sky Arte on Saturday 28 August at 5.45 pm. In these works inspired by Ovid’s mythology and Metamorphoses, Titian reveals the pioneering character of his painting where oil is used to give shape to full-bodied, almost material brushstrokes, addressing mythological themes in a revolutionary way.
Analyzing each of the six works, the modern public will appreciate the exceptional relevance of Tiziano, an artist capable of “reading” his own time while remaining faithful to a style that will make him immortal.

Tiziano Vecellio, Rape of Europa, 1560-1562, Oil on canvas, 205 x 178 cm | © Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Michelangelo’s fury conquers Rai 5
Tuesday 23 August at 9.15 pm will be broadcast The sin. The fury of Michelangelo. Andrey Konchalovskiy recounts the restless genius of Buonarroti struggling with two important commissions entrusted to him by rival patrons, the Medici and Della Rovere. What emerges is a realistic Renaissance fresco and an authentic portrait of a shrewd and ambitious artist, with dirty hands and nails broken by work, always poised between divine grace and the desire to excel.

Friday 26th August David Hockney – The rediscovered legacy tells the British artist’s vision starting from the great retrospective dedicated to him by the Center Pompidou, in collaboration with the Tate Modern and the Metropolitan Museum of New York to celebrate his eightieth birthday.
At 9.15 pm Art Night takes us on a journey to Hell between the dreamlike visions of Hieronymus Bosch and the eyes of Dante, illustrating how painting has made an imaginary place extremely familiar. The documentary Bosch, the devil with angel wings by Eve Ramboz and Nathalie Plicot presents the Dutch artist and his thoughts through the “decryption” of his paintings, placed in the context of the time and animations which, revealing significant details, testify to the relationship between Bosch’s work and his time .
From Bosch’s visionary brush to Dante’s equally visionary pen. The evening continues with Dante’s eyes, written and directed by Adolfo Conti. What did the poet’s eyes see when he conceived his journey from Hell to Heaven? His visual universe is staged on the small screen.

From the film Il Peccato. The fury of Michelangelo | Photo: Andrea De Fusco | Courtesy of Andrei Konchalovsky Studios, Jean Vigo Italia and Rai Cinema 01 Distribution

Fans of collecting will not be able to miss an exclusive look at the world of Chinese billionaires who, for the first time, open their doors to a Western troupe. Tuesday 23 August at 7.20 pm on Rai 5 for Art Night “Chinese collectors. The power of art ”, a Zero one film production in co-production with Radio Bremen and Arte, rattles off China’s most important, influential and innovative art collectors.
These are enthusiasts ready to shell out millions of dollars in the United States to grab works by Picasso, Modigliani, van Gogh or the French Impressionists. For their art treasures they are creating several private museums in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai.

Arte tv pays homage to Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele, genius of Austrian expressionism of the early twentieth century, talks about himself on Arte tv. This precociously talented artist, who died at the age of 28, was said to never use rubber and had an irrepressible creative energy. Unknown to most until the 1950s, he is today one of the most popular painters in the art market. The documentary on the life of the Austrian painter reveals drawings and paintings to the public where a tender intimacy is intertwined with a sincerity at times brutal.