Hidden Gems: Underrated Art Documentaries Worth Watching
7 Art Films You Will Enjoy
This is our third installment of art movie recommendations. If you're anything like us, you love a good art documentary—something that inspires, educates, and reveals the stories behind the canvas. This list features some of our recent watches that we genuinely enjoyed and couldn’t wait to share.
👉 Missed our first list? Check out 8 Captivating Movies and TV Shows Every Art Lover Should Watch
👉 Missed our second list? Check out Forgery, Theft, and Scandal: 8 True Crime Documentaries for Art Lovers
1. AGGIE
Aggie is a feature-length documentary that explores the nexus of art, race, and justice through the story of art collector and philanthropist Agnes “Aggie” Gund’s life. Emmy-nominated director Catherine Gund focuses on her mother’s journey to give viewers an understanding of the power of art to transform consciousness and inspire social change. Aggie is internationally recognized for her robust and prescient support of artists—particularly women and people of color—and her unwavering commitment to social justice issues. After falling in love with art as a high-school student, Aggie discovers a new way of looking at the world. The film opens with Aggie selling Roy Lichtenstein’s “Masterpiece” for $165 million to start the Art for Justice Fund. The proceeds from one of the highest grossing artworks ever sold fuel a monumental effort to reform the American criminal justice system and end mass incarceration. The film captures Aggie as a true maverick, who demonstrates the unique role and potential of collectors and benefactors to use art to fight injustice. This is new, untapped terrain, and we see Aggie leading the way.
Watch on Film Website & Tubi
2. The Silence of Mark Rothko
The Silence of Mark Rothko is a meditative documentary that delves into the haunting stillness and emotional depth of Mark Rothko’s abstract expressionist paintings. Rather than relying on traditional narration, the film uses silence, ambient soundscapes, and slow, contemplative cinematography to immerse viewers in the experience of Rothko’s color fields. Through extended shots of his works and reflections from curators, philosophers, and artists, The Silence of Rothkobecomes less a biography and more a poetic exploration of how Rothko’s art evokes spirituality, melancholy, and transcendence. It’s a film that invites viewers to slow down, listen, and feel—to encounter the profound quiet at the core of Rothko’s work.
Watch on Tubi
3. Eva Hesse: Portrait of a Ground-breaking Artist
Eva Hesse: Portrait of a Ground-breaking Artist is a deeply personal and illuminating documentary that traces the brief yet extraordinary life of Eva Hesse, a pioneering figure in post-minimalist art. Through archival footage, personal letters, interviews with contemporaries, and critical commentary, the film explores Hesse’s relentless drive to create in the face of personal tragedy, chronic illness, and the male-dominated art world of the 1960s. Her use of unconventional materials like latex, fiberglass, and rope challenged traditional notions of sculpture and pushed the boundaries of form, fragility, and impermanence. More than a biography, the film is a tribute to an artist who redefined what it meant to make art—and what it meant to be an artist.
Watch on Film Website & Kanopy
4. How to See Jack Whitten
This short documentary offers an intimate window into the innovative mind and methods of Jack Whitten. Set inside his New York studio—a former firehouse turned experimental space for acrylic paint—the film captures a creative environment left nearly untouched since his passing in 2018. His wife and daughter reflect on the deeply personal collection of artifacts and images that filled his studio, revealing how these objects connected to Whitten’s Southern upbringing and the profound impact of the Civil Rights era on his work.
As MoMA curator Michelle Kuo notes, Whitten had a unique ability to channel the intensity of lived experience into something both powerful and luminous. We follow MoMA’s conservation team as they undertake the first major technical study of Whitten’s work, shedding light on his material innovations and experimental techniques.
At its core, the film is a tribute to Whitten’s belief that art is a spiritual force—a “conduit of the spirit” and a guide toward the unknown. While he explored the soul of a people in the midst of struggle and transformation, this documentary honors his own legacy.
The documentary coincides with Jack Whitten: The Messenger, a major exhibition currently on view at The Museum of Modern Art in New York through August 2, 2025.
Watch on Youtube
5. Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own
Into Her Own is an intimate and compelling documentary that traces the life and work of groundbreaking sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard. Known for her monumental, hand-carved cedar sculptures, von Rydingsvard’s art is both raw and refined—deeply rooted in emotion, memory, and physical labor. The film explores her journey from a difficult childhood in postwar refugee camps to becoming one of the most respected sculptors of her time. Through studio footage, interviews, and glimpses of her large-scale public commissions, Into Her Own offers a portrait of an artist fiercely committed to her practice, unafraid to confront vulnerability, trauma, and beauty through her work. It’s a story of resilience, reinvention, and the transformative power of making.
Watch on Tubi
6. With Peter Bradley
With Peter Bradley is a quiet yet powerful documentary that offers a candid look into the life and reflections of abstract painter Peter Bradley. Filmed when Bradley was in his late 70s, living and working in rural Pennsylvania, the film captures his day-to-day rhythms, musings on race, the art world, and the purity of painting. Once a rising figure in the 1970s art scene—serving as the first Black curator at a major New York gallery and exhibiting alongside major figures—Bradley found himself overlooked for decades. This film doesn’t dwell on nostalgia or redemption, but instead embraces the present: Bradley painting outdoors, speaking plainly, and continuing to create with deep conviction. With Peter Bradley is as much about art as it is about aging, persistence, and the quiet dignity of staying true to your voice.
Watch on Kanopy
7. Exhibiting Forgiveness
Exhibiting Forgiveness is the powerful directorial debut of acclaimed visual artist Titus Kaphar—a deeply emotional drama that explores the complexities of family, memory, and healing. The film follows Tarrell (André Holland), a successful painter preparing for a major gallery show, whose carefully composed life is disrupted when his estranged father, La’Ron (John Earl Jelks), reappears after years of absence and newfound sobriety.
As Tarrell confronts long-buried childhood trauma, his mother (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), grounded in faith, urges reconciliation. But forgiveness doesn’t come easily, and the emotional weight of the past bleeds into his art, revealing the raw tension between creation and catharsis.
With lyrical cinematography and layered performances, Exhibiting Forgiveness is a moving meditation on the limits of redemption, the role of art in processing pain, and the difficult truth that forgiveness doesn’t always mean forgetting.
Watch on Film Website & Hulu
Each of these films offers more than just insight into the art world—they offer perspective on life, memory, identity, and the quiet resilience behind creation. Whether you're seeking inspiration, healing, or simply a deeper connection to the human experience, these stories remind us that art, in all its forms, continues to be one of our most powerful tools for reflection and transformation.
An amazing selection.