This program tells the story of one of the art world's most colorful characters. A true maverick and a highly controversial figure in his day, Edouard Manet became a father figure to the Impressionist movement because of his stand against the restrictions and conventions of the French salon.

Pierre August Renoir's brilliant Le Moulin de la Gallette created immense controversy in its day. Famous for his use of hot reds, orange and gold to portray nudes in sunlight, Renoir's later life was blighted by arthritis, which crippled his hands. This fascinating story of a man and his work includes a visit to the artist's home.

Profoundly influenced by the Renaissance painters, Hilaire Degas pioneered precision of line and the use of the human form in space within the Impressionist school. This unique DVD study of his life and times includes delightful new footage of the Royal Ballet, Birmingham, England.

This program is a profile of Georges Pierre Seurat, the inventor of the technique known as Pointillism in which a whole picture is made up of tiny rectangles of pure color, which merge together when viewed from afar.

It was Claude Monet's Impression: soleil levant which gave the impressionist school its name. Famed for seeing the subtle nuances of color, light and atmosphere in landscape, Monet's great works include Haystacks and Waterlillies. This program features footage from L'Orangerie and from Monet's house and gardens at Giverny plus special film shot at London's Savoy Hotel, from where Monet painted his famous views of London.

This is the story of the life and work of Camille Pissarro, the West-Indian born leader of the original Impressionists and the only artist from that school to exhibit at all eight of the exhibitions from 1874 to 1886. Pissaro's great works include the famous Boulevard Montmarte which hangs today in the National Gallery, London.