Simon Schama: Power Of Art

The polite, chin-stroking world of art is laid asunder by 'A History Of Britain' writer Simon Schama's uniquely passionate view. Best known for his often controversial views on history, Simon Schama is also a professor of Art History and has as passionate a view of one as the other. This series aims to explore the idea that art, and he uses fine art as an example, is taken far from its original purpose when it's hung it in hushed, staid galleries.

Schama posits that good art is supposed to shake you, grab you by the throat and smack you in the chops rather than pet your hair and tickle your chin. 'Great art has dreadful manners,' he says.