El Greco

Q: What art movement was El Greco part of?

El Greco worked during the late Renaissance but his elongated figures and intense colors align with Mannerism. His visionary, flame-like forms went beyond any contemporary style, and twentieth-century artists recognized him as a precursor to Expressionism.

Q: What is El Greco's most famous painting?

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586-88) in Toledo's Santo Tomé church depicts a miracle: Saints Stephen and Augustine descend from heaven to bury a pious nobleman while his soul rises above. The sixteen-foot canvas combines earthly portraits of Toledo's citizens with ethereal heavenly figures.

Renaissance Baroque

Greek-Spanish·1541–1614

Mannerist master El Greco (1541-1614) fused Byzantine tradition with Venetian color and Spanish mysticism into one of art history's most distinctive styles. Born Doménikos Theotokópoulos in Crete, then a Venetian possession, he trained as an icon painter before traveling to Venice around 1567, where he studied Titian and Tintoretto. After time in Rome, he settled in Toledo, Spain in 1577, finding patrons among the clergy and nobility.

El Greco's mature style features elongated figures, acid colors, and flickering light that express spiritual ecstasy. The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586-88) at Santo Tomé in Toledo combines earthly grandeur with heavenly vision in a painting that has never left its original location. View of Toledo is among history's most dramatic landscape paintings. Ignored after his death, El Greco was rediscovered by Romantics and influenced Expressionists and Picasso. The Prado in Madrid holds major works, while The Burial remains at Santo Tomé church in Toledo. The Metropolitan Museum displays significant paintings.

El Greco, 1580

Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Laocoön

El Greco, 1614

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

About El Greco

El Greco worked during the late Renaissance but his elongated figures and intense colors align with Mannerism. His visionary, flame-like forms went beyond any contemporary style, and twentieth-century artists recognized him as a precursor to Expressionism.

Toledo, Spain, where he spent his final 37 years, holds the most works: the El Greco Museum, Santa Cruz Museum, and churches throughout the city. The Burial of the Count of Orgaz remains in Santo Tomé church. The Prado and Metropolitan Museum have major paintings.

Born Doménikos Theotokópoulos in Crete (then Venetian territory), he trained as an icon painter in the Byzantine tradition before moving to Venice and Rome. When he settled in Toledo in 1577, Spaniards simply called him "El Greco" (The Greek). He signed paintings in Greek letters until his death in 1614.

His figures stretch impossibly upward, lit by cold, unearthly light. Colors clash dramatically: acid greens, electric blues, and stormy grays create visionary intensity. This style, considered bizarre in his era, later influenced Picasso and Pollock. Doctors once theorized (incorrectly) that he had astigmatism.

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586-88) in Toledo's Santo Tomé church depicts a miracle: Saints Stephen and Augustine descend from heaven to bury a pious nobleman while his soul rises above. The sixteen-foot canvas combines earthly portraits of Toledo's citizens with ethereal heavenly figures.

Notable Works by El Greco

Vincenzo Anastagi

View of Toledo

The Last Supper

The Entombment of Christ

St. Luke painting the Virgin

St. Francis receiving the stigmata

St. Antony of Padua

Portrait of Giulio Clovio

Portrait of a man (Andrea Palladio)

Pietà (The Lamentation of Christ)

Mount Sinai

Dormition of the Virgin

Christ driving the traders from the temple

Assumption of the Virgin

Adoration of the Shepherds

A boy blowing on an ember to light a candle

The Annunciation

The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest

Laocoön

Museums with El Greco's Work

Private Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museo del Prado, Madrid

National Gallery of Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art

National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), Copenhagen

Frick Collection

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Bologna

Historical Museum of Crete, Heraclion

National Art Gallery (Alexandros Soutzos Museum), Athens

Holy Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin, Ermoupoli

Related Artists

Rembrandt van Rijn

Johannes Vermeer

Raphael

Michelangelo

Leonardo da Vinci

Diego Velázquez

About El Greco

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