Caravaggio’s life was as turbulent and dramatic as the paintings he left behind. Driven by the tension between the sacred and the profane, he portrayed biblical figures with striking realism, giving saints the faces and humanity of ordinary people — a bold approach that often challenged the Catholic Church. The film reveals how deeply these figures reflect Caravaggio’s own life: a man repeatedly involved in violent brawls, suspected of murder, and whose death remains a mystery: did he succumb to illness, or was he murdered?

Part of the Exhibition on Screen series, the film brings Caravaggio’s masterpieces vividly to life through intimate close-ups of his paintings and their extraordinary use of light and shadow, alongside insights from art historians and dramatic reenactments. The result is a compelling portrait of an artist whose turbulent life and revolutionary vision were inseparable.