7.8/10112 votes#1 - Second Moment of Creation
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 4/17/2018
Examine the formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity itself. Images and artifacts found in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and South America testify to the urge to develop civilizations. Liev Schreiber narrates.
Director: Tim Niel
Writer: Simon Schama
7.3/1099 votes#2 - How Do We Look?
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 4/24/2018
Explore the many functions of the human image in art. Portraits, paintings and sculptures, both life-size and colossal, perform a role—assuaging loss, expressing strength, inspiring fear—and were instrumental in depicting the human body today.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1070 votes#3 - God and Art
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 5/1/2018
Trace the relationship between religion and art, which has inspired some of the most ingenious, affecting, majestic and breathtaking works of art ever made. Yet beneath great works of religious art often lie conflict, intrigue and divine mysteries.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/1066 votes#4 - Encounters
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 5/8/2018
See how advances in seafaring and a thirst for trade and exploration sent human beings around the planet. Distant and disparate cultures met for the first time, and art became the great interface by which civilizations understood each other.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/1059 votes#5 - Renaissances
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 5/15/2018
Travel east and west to explore the connections and rivalries between Renaissance Italy and the Islamic empires that experienced their own cultural flowering in the 15th and 16th centuries. Both spheres were open to influences flowing both ways.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/1055 votes#6 - Paradise on Earth
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 6/12/2018
Explore one of humanity’s deepest artistic urges: the depiction of nature. But landscape painting is seldom a straightforward portrayal of observed nature; it's a projection of dreams, idylls, escapes and refuges—the elusive paradise on earth.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/1051 votes#7 - Color and Light
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 6/19/2018
Explore the story of light and color in art—both in the search for greater realism and spiritual ecstasy. Journey from Gothic cathedrals and Indian courtly painting to modern art.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/1050 votes#8 - The Cult of Progress
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 6/26/2018
Examine the rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology, and see how the “civilizing” project that arose from Enlightenment ideas was fraught with contradictions that troubled European artists in different ways.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/1045 votes#9 - What is Art Good For?
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 7/3/2018
Explore art in the age of revolution, war and profound scientific change and consider the question: Should art create a separate realm, a place of escape, or should it plunge into the chaos, transforming the way we see and live in the world?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Civilisations Season 1
Every episode of Civilisations Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Civilisations Season 1!
The story of art from the dawn of human history to the present day—for the first time on a global scale. Inspired by Civilisation, Kenneth...
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Two
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Second Moment of Creation" is the best rated episode of "Civilisations" season 1. It scored 7.8/10 based on 112 votes. Directed by Tim Niel and written by Simon Schama, it aired on 4/17/2018. This episode is rated 0.5 points higher than the second-best, "How Do We Look?".