Movies like Basquiat (1996)
The best movies like Basquiat (1996) are Pollock (2000), Big Eyes (2014) and Mr. Turner (2014). If Basquiat hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLoving Vincent (2017)8.0/10 from 2,676 votes
- NewestPeter Hujar's Day (2025)Released 2025
Pollock (2000)
In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: "Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew." As he struggled with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock began a downward spiral.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Eyes (2014)
In the late 1950s and early '60s, artist Walter Keane achieves unbelievable fame and success with portraits of saucer-eyed waifs. However, no one realizes that his wife, Margaret, is the real painter behind the brush. Although Margaret is horrified to learn that Walter is passing off her work as his own, she is too meek to protest too loudly. It isn't until the Keanes' marriage comes to an end and a lawsuit follows that the truth finally comes to light.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr. Turner (2014)
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFactory Girl (2006)
In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II contracts the influential artist Michelangelo to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAt Eternity's Gate (2018)
Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
In 1958 New York Diane Arbus is a housewife and mother who works as an assistant to her husband, a photographer employed by her wealthy parents. Respectable though her life is, she cannot help but feel uncomfortable in her privileged world. One night, a new neighbor catches Diane's eye, and the enigmatic man inspires her to set forth on the path to discovering her own artistry.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLust for Life (1956)
An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustrations with failure. Supported by his brother, Theo, the tormented Van Gogh eventually leaves Holland for France, where he meets volatile fellow painter Paul Gauguin and struggles to find greater inspiration.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFinal Portrait (2017)
Paris, 1964. The Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti, one of the most accomplished and respected artists of his generation, asks his friend, the American writer James Lord, to sit for a portrait, assuring him that it will take no longer than two or three hours, an afternoon at the most.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBefore Night Falls (2000)
Spanning several decades, this powerful biopic offers a glimpse into the life of famed Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, an artist who was vilified for his homosexuality in Fidel Castro's Cuba.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSéraphine (2008)
The tragic story of French naïve painter Séraphine Louis aka Séraphine de Senlis (1864-1942), a humble servant who becomes a gifted self-taught painter. Discovered by prominent critic and collector William Uhde, she came to prominence between the wars grouped with other naïve painters like Henri Rouseau only to descend into madness and obscurity with the onset of the Great Depression and World War II.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove & Mercy (2015)
In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, under the sway of a controlling therapist, he finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnfant Terrible (2020)
When 22-year-old Rainer Werner Fassbinder storms the stage of a small, progressive theatre in Munich 1967, and seizes the production without further ado, nobody suspects this brazen young rebel to become one of the most important post-war German filmmakers. Despite early setbacks, many of his films breakout at the most renowned films festivals and polarise audience, critics and filmmakers alike. His radical views and self-exploitation, as well as his longing for love, have made him one of the most fascinating film directors of this time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Van Gogh (1991)
After leaving the asylum, Vincent van Gogh settles in the home of Doctor Gachet, where he keeps painting amidst the torments of his failing mental health. He begins an affair with his host’s daughter, however, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for art.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrida (2002)
A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCaravaggio (1986)
A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLoving Vincent (2017)
A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCandy (2006)
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle — and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisModi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness (2024)
Through the streets of World War I Paris, Italian bohemian artist Modigliani attempts to outmaneuver bombs, policemen, girlfriends, and critics in a increasingly desperate search of a home for his art.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
A Real Vermeer (2016)
Young and talented Han van Meegeren is a rebel in the early 1920's Amsterdam art-scene. Because he paints in the style of his idols Rembrandt and Vermeer, critics find his work old-fashioned and they call him a copycat. Just to prove a point, he produces a fake Vermeer and tries to pass it off as a real one. It works. Instead of revealing the truth and thereby embarrassing the art world, he continues to make money off of his many forgeries. Soon he is caught in a web of lies and deceit, and his life spins out of control. Then one day, high ranking Nazi Hermann Göring knocks on his door, looking for a Vermeer for his private collection...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Peter Hujar's Day (2025)
A recently discovered conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz in 1974 reveals a glimpse into New York City’s downtown art scene and the personal struggles and epiphanies that define an artist’s life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
An Angel at My Table (1990)
Based on the autobiographical work of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, this production depicts the author at various stage of her life. Afflicted with mental and emotional issues, Frame grows up in an impoverished family and experiences numerous tragedies while still in her youth, including the deaths of two of her siblings. Portrayed as an adult by Kerry Fox, Frame finds acclaim for her writing while still in a mental institution, and her success helps her move on with her life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
The story of Valerie Solanas, a '60s radical who preached misandry in her "SCUM" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he repeatedly ignored her. So she shot him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKlimt (2006)
A portrait of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt whose lavish, sexual paintings came to symbolize the art nouveau style of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Danish Girl (2015)
When Gerda Wegener asks her husband Einar to fill in as a portrait model, Einar discovers the person she's meant to be and begins living her life as Lili Elbe. Having realized her true self and with Gerda's love and support, Lili embarks on a groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisControl (2007)
The story of Joy Division’s lead singer Ian Curtis, from his schoolboy days in 1973 to his suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNorma Jean & Marilyn (1996)
This film follows Norma Jean from her simple, ambitious youth to her sex star pinnacle and back down. She moves from lover to lover in order to further her career. She finds fame but never happiness, only knowing seduction but not love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Downtown '81 (2001)
The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Showing Up (2023)
In the days leading up to a possibly career-changing exhibition, a sculptor navigates her relationships with family, friends, and colleagues.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFabian: Going to the Dogs (2021)
In 1930s Berlin, Dr. Jakob Fabian, who works by day in advertising for a cigarette company and by night wanders the streets of the city, falls in love with an actress. As her career begins to blossom, prospects for his future begin to wane.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Basquiat?
The closest matches to Basquiat are Pollock (2000), Big Eyes (2014) and Mr. Turner (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Basquiat?
People who watched Basquiat most often go on to Pollock (2000), Big Eyes (2014) and Mr. Turner (2014).
What is the highest-rated movie like Basquiat?
Loving Vincent (2017), rated 8.0/10 by 2,676 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Basquiat?
Peter Hujar's Day (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Basquiat?
Yes: Pollock (2000), Big Eyes (2014) and Mr. Turner (2014).
How are movies similar to Basquiat chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Basquiat, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.