Rick Steves' Europe
Art Bites 113: Egyptian Pyramids and Tombs of the Pharaohs
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Egypt’s towering pyramids, lavish tombs hidden in hillsides, and glorious art treasures.
Egypt is rich in towering pyramids, lavish tombs hidden deep in hillsides, and glorious art treasures that filled those tombs. Thanks to the ancient Egyptian belief that you could take it with you, the wonders of this society survive and take us back four or five thousand years.
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Rick Steves' Europe
Art Bites 113: Egyptian Pyramids and Tombs of the Pharaohs
Clip | 4m 30sVideo has Closed Captions
Egypt is rich in towering pyramids, lavish tombs hidden deep in hillsides, and glorious art treasures that filled those tombs. Thanks to the ancient Egyptian belief that you could take it with you, the wonders of this society survive and take us back four or five thousand years.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipWhile not in Europe—the more advanced civilization of Egypt would contribute to the rise of European civilization.
With god-like kings, incredible wealth and power concentrated in the royal court, a pre-occupation with religion, and an ability to organize beyond anything yet, Egypt was a society of grand architecture, massive temple complexes, a sophisticated written language, and lavish art.
Towering just outside the capital city of Cairo, stands the greatest sight of the ancient world— the Pyramids at Giza.
The tombs of three great kings, these monuments were built to protect the bodies and preserve the memories of fabulously wealthy and powerful pharaohs.
The iconic sights of ancient Egypt—four or five thousand years old—are basically buildings and art for dead people.
Back then, they believed you could take it with you.
And your big challenge: to be sure your body and your valuables survived the journey into the afterlife.
That█s why, if you had the power and money, you█d lock everything up in a big tomb—a pyramid.
These are the most famous: the Pyramids of Giza.
The pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu is the only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
This grandest of all pyramids—700 feet long on each side—was built 2,500 years before Christ.
The neighboring pyramids are likely those of Khufu█s son and grandson.
The smaller ones?
They█re for the wives and daughters.
Workers dragged over two million huge stones up ramps, eventually constructing this 450-foot-high monument.
In their day, the pyramids were encased in a shiny limestone veneer.
I sure hope Khufu was satisfied.
Egyptian Pharaohs spent a good part of their lives and their kingdom█s wealth building these huge tombs, which served as lockers for whatever they wanted to take into the afterlife: their bodies, their treasures—even their favorite pets.
Nearly everything filling these old halls is funerary art, art designed to help save the souls of the pharaohs: statues filled with symbolism, written prayers, and offerings to deal with the gods and help assure a happy transition into the afterlife.
This ancient art is so well-preserved because most of it was hidden away for thousands of years, locked up dark and dry, in tombs.
This portrayal of geese dates from 2500 BC.
This “seated scribe” recalls the importance of the educated elite in the court of an often-illiterate king.
And this couple—a husband and wife—was also found in a tomb.
It█s nearly all art for the dead, sealed away until rediscovered in modern times.
The art of Egypt revolved around death—preserving your body, your possessions, and your deeds for the afterlife.
This woman died 3,000 years ago, her entrails were placed here, her body was placed in a wooden coffin like this, which was put into a larger stone sarcophagus like this, then placed inside a tomb, which was covered with magic spells and prayers.
At the door of the tomb, a recognizable statue of the deceased served as a kind of safe harbor for the wandering soul on its journey to the afterlife.
The art was simplified, yes, but the Egyptians created art that captured fleeting beauty and preserved it for eternity.
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Clip | 1m 36s | With heavy outlines and brilliant colors, Chagall celebrated nature and its creator. (1m 36s)
Art Bites 192: Surrealism and Salvador Dalí
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Clip | 2m 34s | Surrealists explored the subconscious painting everyday images in jarring juxtapositions. (2m 34s)
Art Bites 191: Edvard Munch and Expressionism
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Art Bites 190: Romanticism and Romantic Era Painting
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Art Bites 189: Pablo Picasso: Cubism, "Guernica," and Much More
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Clip | 1m 35s | Gustav Klimt, with paintings like “The Kiss” captured a simmering hedonism in Vienna. (1m 35s)
Art Bites 187: Toulouse-Lautrec
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Art Bites 186: Modern Art and the Isms of the 20th Century
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Art Bites 185: Art Nouveau, Mucha, and Gaudí
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Clip | 5m 3s | Art Nouveau went organic with willowy maidens, melting eaves, and an embrace of nature. (5m 3s)
Art Bites 184: Vincent van Gogh
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Clip | 3m 1s | Van Gogh’s wild brush strokes and vivid colors portrayed the world he felt so intensely. (3m 1s)
Art Bites 183: The Post-Impressionists: Seurat, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh
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Clip | 3m 51s | Dots, slabs, primitive Tahitian scenes, wild brush strokes, and vivid colors. (3m 51s)
Art Bites 182: Claude Monet and His Waterlilies
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Clip | 2m 10s | The true subject of Monet’s “Waterlilies” is the changing reflections on the pond. (2m 10s)
Art Bites 181: Rodin, Impressionism in Sculpting
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Clip | 1m 27s | Auguste Rodin brought Impressionism to stone with iconic statues like “The Thinker.” (1m 27s)
Art Bites 180: Impressionism, Monet, Renoir, and Degas
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Clip | 6m 20s | The Impressionists revolutionized art with a focus on nature: light, shadow, and color. (6m 20s)
Art Bites 179: Northern Baroque Painting: Hals, Steen, Vermeer
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Clip | 4m 53s | Hals, Steen, Vermeer painted slices of regular life and group portraits of city bigwigs. (4m 53s)
Art Bites 178: Baroque Music, Bernini for Your Ears
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Clip | 2m 5s | This mini piano concert demonstrates how Baroque music can be like Bernini for your ears. (2m 5s)
Art Bites 177: Rubens, a Master Painter of the Northern Renaissance
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Clip | 3m 28s | Rubens painted mythic battles, Catholic miracles, bloody hunts, and “Rubenesque” women. (3m 28s)
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Clip | 1m 53s | Gritty realism, stark lighting, and drama gave Caravaggio’s art an emotional punch. (1m 53s)
Art Bites 175: Bernini and Baroque Sculpture
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Clip | 5m 37s | Rome was Bernini’s gallery where you can see his squares, fountains, and finest statues. (5m 37s)
Art Bites 174: Baroque Art as Propaganda
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Clip | 3m 29s | Baroque art was propaganda for the state or for the Church. (3m 29s)
Art Bites 173: Baroque Art, the Catholic Church, and the Virgin Mary
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Clip | 3m 42s | Pro-Vatican Baroque featured big canvases, dramatic statues, and exuberant architecture. (3m 42s)
Art Bites 172: The Reformation and the Baroque Age
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Clip | 5m 6s | The roots of Baroque go back to the 1500s when it told the story of the religious wars. (5m 6s)
Art Bites 171: Neoclassical Art, the Age of Revolution, and Napoleon
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Clip | 5m 6s | The French Revolution came with art that celebrated liberty, equality, and brotherhood. (5m 6s)
Art Bites 170: Neoclassical Art and Architecture, the Age of Enlightenment
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Clip | 5m 49s | Neoclassical was a stern, no-frills style that celebrated a new age of science and reason. (5m 49s)
Art Bites 169: Rococo Art and Architecture, Baroque Gone Wild
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Clip | 2m 7s | Rococo art featured aristocrats playing in their Baroque palaces and bucolic backyards. (2m 7s)
Art Bites 168: Royal Palaces of the Baroque Age and Versailles
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Clip | 5m 36s | Versailles, with its heavenly painted ceilings, was the ultimate Baroque palace. (5m 36s)
Art Bites 167: Royal Portraits and Velázquez
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Clip | 3m 33s | Painters, such as Velázquez, were paid to make royals look more divine than they were. (3m 33s)
Art Bites 166: Rembrandt, The Great Dutch Master
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Clip | 3m 51s | Rembrandt earned a living painting and told Bible stories with a subtle mastery of drama. (3m 51s)
Art Bites 165: Sandro Botticelli
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Clip | 2m 24s | Botticelli painted big colorful celebrations of the Renaissance like a fertile springtime. (2m 24s)
Art Bites 164: The Medici Family, Patrons of the Florentine Renaissance
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Clip | 3m 27s | The Medici family nurtured and employed the great Florentine Renaissance artists. (3m 27s)
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Clip | 2m 6s | A humble monk, Fra Angelico frescoed exquisite sacred scenes for his monastery. (2m 6s)
Art Bites 162: Early Renaissance Painting: Giotto, Masaccio, Fra Angelico
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Art Bites 161: Donatello and Early Renaissance Statues
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Art Bites 160: Renaissance Artists: Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello
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Art Bites 159: The Renaissance Defined
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Art Bites 158: Hieronymus Bosch and "The Garden of Earthly Delights"
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Clip | 2m 6s | Weyden’s exquisitely detailed Last Judgment is filled with symbolism. (2m 6s)
Art Bites 156: Pieter Brueghel the Elder for a Slice of Flemish Life
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Clip | 2m 14s | Brueghel was a master of slice-of-life scenes capturing country folk at play. (2m 14s)
Art Bites 155: Oil Painting, an Improvement over Tempera
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Clip | 2m 9s | Oil paints freed artists like Jan van Eyck, Raphael, and Leonardo to raise the bar. (2m 9s)
Art Bites 154: The Northern Renaissance, Flemish Painting, and Jan van Eyck
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Clip | 3m 10s | Flemish paintings were happy slice-of-life scenes, feel-good, and affordable. (3m 10s)
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Art Bites 152: El Greco and Mannerism
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Clip | 4m 8s | El Greco painted supernatural visions, faces that flicker, and otherworldly altarpieces. (4m 8s)
Art Bites 151: The Age of Discovery: Portugal and Spain
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Clip | 2m 2s | Gothic church design is best illustrated by building one with 13 travelers. (2m 2s)
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Clip | 6m 51s | The Gothic Age was famed for its towering churches filled with glorious stained-glass windows. (6m 51s)
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