El Greco

Crete / "the Greek"

His real name was Doménikos Theotokópoulos.

💡 Did you know? „El Greco“ is merely a nickname: he always signed in Greek with his real name, Domenikos Theotokopoulos.

Toledo

El Greco settled around 1577 in Toledo, Spain, where he created his most important works.

💡 Did you know? He lived lavishly, with his own musicians at meals and yet left debts behind.

elongated figures

El Greco stretched his figures to extreme lengths and bathed them in flickering, unearthly light.

💡 Did you know? Some contemporaries thought it a sign of poor eyesight.

Mannerism

El Greco is regarded as a late master of Mannerism who boldly stretched the rules of the Renaissance.

💡 Did you know? Some wrongly supposed an eye disorder caused his elongated figures: in fact it was pure style.

around 1900

Picasso and the Expressionists saw in him a pioneer.

💡 Did you know? Only around 1900 did modernism and Expressionism see a forerunner in El Greco's distorted figures: Picasso studied him closely.

1614

El Greco died in Toledo in 1614; his work then fell into oblivion for nearly three centuries.

💡 Did you know? His former home in Toledo can be visited today as the „Museo del Greco.“

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

Around 1586: earthly mourning below, heavenly reception above.

💡 Did you know? In his masterpiece El Greco links the earthly mourners with the opened heaven above; his son stands at the front.

View of Toledo

Around 1596: one of the first great landscapes, with a dramatic sky.

💡 Did you know? One of the first pure landscapes in Spanish art: the city beneath a dramatically stormy sky.

The Disrobing of Christ

Painted around 1578.

💡 Did you know? Christ's glowing red robe makes him the instant focal point amid the pressing crowd.

Opening of the Fifth Seal

Painted around 1610.

💡 Did you know? The visionary, distorted composition impressed Picasso centuries later while painting „Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.“

The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest

Painted around 1580.

💡 Did you know? The dignified Spanish nobleman became an icon of Spanish pride.

Laocoön

Painted around 1610.

💡 Did you know? El Greco's only work on a classical theme: in the background, instead of Troy, appears his city of Toledo.

Saint Martin and the Beggar

Painted around 1597.

💡 Did you know? The saint shares his cloak with the beggar: the extremely elongated figures are typical of El Greco.

Fray Hortensio Félix Paravicino

Painted around 1609.

💡 Did you know? The monk in the portrait was a poet who wrote verses in El Greco's honour.

Adoration of the Shepherds

Painted around 1612.

💡 Did you know? El Greco painted this for his own tomb: the light seems to radiate from the Christ child itself.

Portrait of Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli

Painted around 1600.

💡 Did you know? The sitter was El Greco's son and successor in the workshop.

The Resurrection

Painted around 1598.

💡 Did you know? The ascending Christ seems to pull the guards' over-long bodies up with him.

The Concert of the Angels

Painted around 1600.

💡 Did you know? Music-making angels in swirling light: typical of El Greco's late, almost abstract work.

El Greco

El Greco (1541 to 1614), born Domenikos Theotokopoulos, was a Mannerist painter from Crete who created his unmistakable elongated figures in Toledo.

💡 Did you know? Mocked for centuries as „distorted,“ El Greco is now considered one of the most original painters of all: a forerunner of modernism.