View
of Toledo
(oil on canvas, 1597)
The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Townscapes
Known
as El Greco (the Greek) because he was born in Crete,
Doménikos Theotokópoulos was one of the
great masters of Spanish painting. He was proud of his
national heritage, so much so that he signed his work
using characters from the Greek alphabet. During his formative
artistic years in Venice and Rome, he was influenced by
Tintoretto and Michelangelo respectively. In 1577 he moved
to Spain where he finally settled in Toledo until his
death in 1614.
El
Greco has a style which is quite unique in European painting:
a strange combination of the expressive power of Italian
Mannerism but illuminated by a mystical light and colour
that reflects the artist's intense spiritual fervour.
Toledo
was the religious capital of Spain and El Greco's 'View
of Toledo' is a landscape painting with a spiritual dimension.
He chooses to portray the scene just at that moment before
a storm bursts. The heavens are at war with the sun just
holding out against the impending thunderstorm and the
atmosphere is electric. The spire of Toledo Cathedral
seems to conduct this energy to the surrounding buildings
while the landscape bristles with static charge. At this
portentous moment the voice of God speaks through the
forces of nature. It is an apocalyptic scene which recalls
St. John's vision of the New Jerusalem in the Book of
Revelations, 'He showed me Jerusalem, the Holy City, coming
out of Heaven from God and shining with the glory of God.
The city shone like a precious stone, like a jasper, clear
as crystal.'
This
is a landscape of unearthly power and drama: a dialogue
between heaven and earth conducted appropriately by the
cathedral spire. In fact, El Greco has changed the actual
positions of the cathedral and the Alcázar palace
to increase the effectiveness of his composition.
El
Greco's fame faded after his death until he was 'rediscovered'
at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century.
Paul
Cézanne, Pablo
Picasso and the German Expressionists were attracted
by the expressive distortions of form and colour in his
painting. Picasso acknowledged this debt in his painting
'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' which has many compositional
similarities to El Greco's 'Opening of the Fifth Seal'
(1608-1614). This late El Greco masterpiece was owned
by Picasso's friend, Ignacio Zuloaga, and at the time
when Picasso was painting 'Les Demoiselles' he often visited
Zuloaga to view the work.
Franz
Marc, one of the most renowned expressionists, said,
'the glory of this painter is closely tied to the evolution
of our new perceptions on art.' El Greco was not simply
an old master; he was an artist from the past whose ideas
were three hundred years ahead of their time.
Key
Notes about El Greco
