Les Blank was best known for his profiles of musicians when he took on the monumental task of documenting the making of Werner Herzog's equally monumental production Fitzcarraldo. The film itself was the story of an act of extreme obsession—the transportation of a steamship by land over the Andes Mountains. Herzog’s decision to replicate the feat in real life resulted in the production becoming a real-world mirror of the story’s depiction of the limits of mental and physical endurance.

Pablo Picasso is perhaps the most significant figure in European fine art in the first half of the 20th century, leading the way in innovative styles such as Cubism and Surrealism, while producing highly recognizable works that addressed both personal and political themes.

This experiment in form by filmmaking master Orson Welles has become a touchstone in the development of the “visual essay” format now popular in online video culture. Welles’s film is a conscientious magic trick—supposedly a profile of art forger Elmyr de Hory, it also explores hoax biographer Clifford Irving, Welles’s own history of famous hoaxes, and even the relationship of his mistress, Oja Kodar, to Picasso.

Capturing Madonna at the height of her pop-culture dominance during the Blond Ambition Tour, this influential and popular documentary straddles the line between gritty authenticity and highly manufactured spin.

Yayoi Kusama is one of the most unique and significant living modern artists. Rising to prominence in the 1960s, she overcame racism, sexism, and mental illness to become the top-selling female artist in the world.