El greco biography resumida la

It is also is one of the only, if not the only, surviving landscapes done by El Greco, who rarely strayed from religious subjects and portraits. His work also inspired those outside the realm of painting, such as writers Rainer Maria Rilke and Nikos Kazantzakis. El Greco died on April 7, , unappreciated in his time, with the art world waiting years before embracing his status as a master.

We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Frida Kahlo. Jean-Michel Basquiat. The English art historian David Davies seeks the roots of El Greco's style in the intellectual sources of his Greek-Christian education and in the world of his recollections from the liturgical and ceremonial aspect of the Orthodox Church.

Davies believes that the religious climate of the Counter-Reformation and the aesthetics of Mannerism acted as catalysts to activate his individual technique. He asserts that the philosophies of Platonism and ancient Neo-Platonism , the works of Plotinus and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite , the texts of the Church fathers and the liturgy offer the keys to the understanding of El Greco's style.

El Greco was highly esteemed as an architect and sculptor during his lifetime. There he decorated the chapel of the hospital, but the wooden altar and the sculptures he created have in all probability perished. Ildefonso still survives on the lower center of the frame. His most important architectural achievement was the church and Monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, for which he also executed sculptures and paintings.

Pacheco characterized him as "a writer of painting, sculpture and architecture". In the marginalia that El Greco inscribed in his copy of Daniele Barbaro's translation of Vitruvius' De architectura , he refuted Vitruvius' attachment to archaeological remains, canonical proportions, perspective and mathematics. He also saw Vitruvius' manner of distorting proportions in order to compensate for distance from the eye as responsible for creating monstrous forms.

El Greco was averse to the very idea of rules in architecture; he believed above all in the freedom of invention and defended novelty, variety, and complexity. These ideas were, however, far too extreme for the architectural circles of his era and had no immediate resonance. El Greco was disdained by the immediate generations after his death because his work was opposed in many respects to the principles of the early baroque style which came to the fore near the beginning of the 17th century and soon supplanted the last surviving traits of the 16th-century Mannerism.

Late 17th- and early 18th-century Spanish commentators praised his skill but criticized his antinaturalistic style and his complex iconography. With the arrival of Romantic sentiments in the late 18th century, El Greco's works were examined anew. In the s, Spanish painters living in Paris adopted him as their guide and mentor. He [El Greco] has discovered a realm of new possibilities.

Not even he, himself, was able to exhaust them. All the generations that follow after him live in his realm. To the English artist and critic Roger Fry in , El Greco was the archetypal genius who did as he thought best "with complete indifference to what effect the right expression might have on the public". Fry described El Greco as "an old master who is not merely modern, but actually appears a good many steps ahead of us, turning back to show us the way".

During the same period, other researchers developed alternative, more radical theories. Epitomizing the consensus of El Greco's impact, Jimmy Carter , the 39th President of the United States, said in April that El Greco was "the most extraordinary painter that ever came along back then" and that he was "maybe three or four centuries ahead of his time".

According to Efi Foundoulaki, "painters and theoreticians from the beginning of the 20th century 'discovered' a new El Greco but in process they also discovered and revealed their own selves". The Symbolists , and Pablo Picasso during his Blue Period , drew on the cold tonality of El Greco, utilizing the anatomy of his ascetic figures. The early Cubist explorations of Picasso were to uncover other aspects in the work of El Greco: structural analysis of his compositions, multi-faced refraction of form, interweaving of form and space, and special effects of highlights.

Several traits of Cubism, such as distortions and the materialistic rendering of time, have their analogies in El Greco's work. According to Picasso, El Greco's structure is Cubist. The expressionists focused on the expressive distortions of El Greco. According to Franz Marc , one of the principal painters of the German expressionist movement, "we refer with pleasure and with steadfastness to the case of El Greco, because the glory of this painter is closely tied to the evolution of our new perceptions on art".

By , Pollock had completed sixty drawing compositions after El Greco and owned three books on the Cretan master. Pollock influenced the artist Joseph Glasco 's interest in El Greco's art. Glasco created several contemporary paintings based on one of his favorite subjects, El Greco's View of Toledo. Kysa Johnson used El Greco's paintings of the Immaculate Conception as the compositional framework for some of her works, and the master's anatomical distortions are somewhat reflected in Fritz Chesnut's portraits.

El Greco's personality and work were a source of inspiration for poet Rainer Maria Rilke. One set of Rilke's poems Himmelfahrt Mariae I. In , the Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis published El Greco , a symphonic album inspired by the artist. Directed by Ioannis Smaragdis , the film began shooting in October on the island of Crete and debuted on the screen one year later; [ ] British actor Nick Ashdon was cast to play El Greco.

The exact number of El Greco's works has been a hotly contested issue. In , a highly influential study by art historian Rodolfo Pallucchini had the effect of greatly increasing the number of works accepted to be by El Greco. El Greco is now seen as an artist with a formative training on Crete; a series of works illuminate his early style, some painted while he was still on Crete, some from his period in Venice, and some from his subsequent stay in Rome.

A few sculptures, including Epimetheus and Pandora , have been attributed to El Greco. This doubtful attribution is based on the testimony of Pacheco he saw in El Greco's studio a series of figurines, but these may have been merely models. There are also four drawings among the surviving works of El Greco; three of them are preparatory works for the altarpiece of Santo Domingo el Antiguo and the fourth is a study for one of his paintings, The Crucifixion.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. Greek painter of the Spanish Renaissance — This article is about the artist of the Spanish Renaissance. For other uses, see El Greco disambiguation. Portrait of a Man , a presumed self-portrait c.

Toledo , Spain. Cretan School Mannerism Spanish Renaissance. Life [ edit ]. Early years and family [ edit ]. Italy [ edit ]. Spain [ edit ]. Move to Toledo [ edit ]. Mature works and later years [ edit ]. Art [ edit ]. Main article: Art of El Greco. Technique and style [ edit ]. Painting materials [ edit ]. Suggested Byzantine affinities [ edit ].

Architecture and sculpture [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. Main article: Posthumous fame of El Greco. Posthumous critical reputation [ edit ]. Influence on other artists [ edit ]. See also: Boy Leading a Horse. Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon , oil on canvas, The Portrait of a Painter after El Greco , oil on plywood, Debates on attribution [ edit ].

Further information: List of works by El Greco. Gallery [ edit ]. Nazi-looted art [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Timeline of El Greco's life —7 April The curious form of the article El may be from the Venetian language or more likely from the Spanish, though in Spanish his name would be El Griego. Most researchers and scholars give Candia as his birthplace.

Kyrou, a prominent Greek journalist of the 20th century, El Greco was born in Fodele and the ruins of his family's house are still extant in the place where old Fodele was the village later changed location because of pirate raids. Fodele natives argue that El Greco probably told everyone in Spain he was from Heraklion because it was the closest known city next to tiny Fodele.

It was there where his works, created in the spirit of the post-Byzantine painters of the Cretan School, were greatly esteemed. On 26 December El Greco sought permission from the Venetian authorities to sell a "panel of the Passion of Christ executed on a gold background " "un quadro della Passione del Nostro Signor Giesu Christo, dorato" in a lottery.

One valuation was eighty ducats and the other seventy , equal in value to a work by Titian or Tintoretto of that period. In the population of the city was 62, He agreed to finish the work by August of the following year. Although such deadlines were seldom met, it was a point of potential conflict. He also agreed to allow the brotherhood to select the appraisers.

That fact has puzzled researchers, because he mentioned her in various documents, including his last testament. Most analysts assume that El Greco had married unhappily in his youth and therefore could not legalize another attachment. On the one hand Gautier believed that El Greco went mad from excessive artistic sensitivity. His elongations were an artistic expression, not a visual symptom.

In , he soon went to Madrid and then to Toledo to create most of his mature work. Unlike his stay in Rome where he was disgustingly criticized by most art critics, he regained a huge reputation in Toledo where he contributed world-renowned paintings like the El Espolio and nine paintings to complete The Trinity and The Assumption of the Virgin in the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo.

His aim that time was to gain the interest of King Philip II, but unfortunately he was not happy with his works due to a few reasons which included being uncomfortable with the inclusion of living bodies in a religious artwork or the violation of the Counter-Reformation rule wherein the content was more prominent than the style. His works of art remained as the sole inspiration of most painters including Pablo Picasso.

His paintings gave a more profound feel of dramatization instead of description, and his powerful religious emotions are well portrayed in paintings such as The Disrobing of Christ, which was considered as one of his most important creations. Other than his evident works, he was an excellent portraitist, architect and sculptor. In the years following his studies, he was commissioned to paint alter pieces for the local Orthodox churches.

In Venice he found the opulence and inspiration he needed, surrounded not only by Byzantine art but also by the Italian Renaissance. He joined the studio of Titian, who was generally considered one of the greatest painters of the time. He began studying elements of Renaissance painting, especially perspective and figural construction, to learn how to depict complex narratives.

However, as a young foreign painter his work was not well received. This position makes it clear that he was well connected, possibly recommended by a Venetian friend. He drew upon the popular Renaissance style of the time but sought to distinguish himself by finding new ways to interpret the traditional religious subject matter.

He found innovation in the Mannerists who were rejecting ideals of harmonious proportion, balance, static beauty, and naturalist presence. This resulted in works that contained both the agile, elongated, and romanticized figures and chromatic framework of the Renaissance with the violent perspectives, strange altitudes, and tempestuous gestures of the Mannerists filtered through his own prolific imagination and expressive view of life.

The visual tension he managed to achieve through artificial distortion and unrealistic colors evoked a narrative drama, which lent a sense of emotional, psychological, and spiritual pulse to his paintings. This is probably due to the fact that he openly criticized Michelangelo, who had died a few years earlier and was still well regarded in Rome.

It is believed that he claimed he, "could replace The Last Judgment with something just as good, and more Christian. His intense commitment to artistic development and understanding led him to Spain in First he went to Madrid, and then to Toledo, a profoundly commercial, historical, religious, and artistic center. It is generally accepted that it was here that he was named El Greco, 'the Greek,' by his friends.

However, the name could have also been derived from his time in Italy, where it was custom to identify an artist by his place of origin. As he always signed his paintings with his full name in Greek letters, the name El Greco further emphasized the background he was profoundly proud of. Shortly after his arrival, he found himself surrounded by intellectual friends and generous patrons, finding the artistic respect he desired by receiving two major commissions for local churches.

This prolific artistic period also coincides with El Greco's conversion to Catholicism. Although other personal aspects of his personality are unknown, his utter devotion to creation is clear when he claims that he painted, "because the spirits whisper madly inside my head. This influence on his art was profound, in that it compelled him to articulate his art as an embodiment of a higher realm of spirit, repudiating the experience of painting as one of merely crafting a visually appealing piece.

This lent to his position as a great modernist of his time. He was elitist and acted with superiority, considering "the language of art is celestial in origin and can only be understood by the chosen," and that he was created by God to fill the world and the universe with his masterpieces. Although they were both officially recognized in letters and other documents as a couple, they never married.

This unconventional approach has led to various speculations of an unknown previous marriage in Crete.

El greco biography resumida la

It is believed that at some point during his mature years, El Greco was commissioned to paint for King Phillip II, the richest and most powerful ruler in Europe at the time. This would finally give him the chance to become a court painter - his lifetime dream. However when he presented the works to the King, he profoundly disliked them and dismissed El Greco forcing him to return to Toledo.

Devoted to his vision, El Greco never changed his way of painting, no matter what type of opposition he encountered. Back home in Toledo however, he was happy to be met with the same appreciation and validation he had found before. It is also known that in Toledo El Greco worked as a sculptor and an architect, however not many details of these forms of artistic expression exist.

He was a man of extensive culture and knowledge, a Renaissance man, and his library is believed to have possessed all the classical Latin, Roman, Spanish, and Greek literature, including the architectural treatises of Vitruvies, Alberti, Serlio, and Palladio. Art critic Jason Farago further claims that, "El Greco was not a lone wolf or a hermit.

He was a shrewd businessman and he had supporters, though nothing on the level of such hustling artist-politicians as Titian or Rubens. He enjoyed a stable social life, and was close friends with various scholars, intellectuals, writers, and churchmen. Between and , he enjoyed his most active period of commissions, being contracted to paint for several chapels and monasteries simultaneously.

This phase, considerable for its prodigious output, includes some of his most notorious works. El Greco fell ill and passed away in while he was working on a commission for the Hospital Tavera. Although he did not leave a large estate upon his death, he had always enjoyed a comfortable life. El Greco is generally considered one of the leading figures of the Spanish Renaissance that defined the 15 th and 16 th centuries.

Although at the time, due to his greatly individualistic expressive style, his art was received with much reluctance and confusion, he is now considered to be one of the "select members of the modern pantheon of great painters," as claimed by art historian Keith Christiansen, and is regarded as a true visionary artist that lived well ahead of his time.

His work found great appreciation in the 19 th century, when a group of collectors, writers, and artists, especially the Romantic artists that admired his passionate eccentricity, brought it into a new light. However, it is generally considered that his unique artistic language, with its focus on expression was only fully understood in the 20 th century, when the artistic panorama of the time developed a deeper appreciation for his art.

Fascinated by his imagination, sense of personal visual style, and overall composition, El Greco's work established a foundation for the development of Cubism , a movement in which artists began to abandon a single viewpoint perspective to play with geometric shapes and interlocking planes. He exerted a major influence on Pablo Picasso , who studied some of his works intensively and saw in El Greco's language a 'modern' approach to art.

Picasso's painting entitled Portrait of a Painter, after El Greco can be interpreted as a tribute to the early master. In a broad way, El Greco can be further seen as a precursor to the canon of modern art , leading the path away from traditional naturalistic approaches into a new artistic dialogue which emphasized culling from emotion, inner drama, and bold new renditions of color and free flowing figuration.

His work laid a significant groundwork for the development of Expressionism and the Blaue Reiter Group. We can see a direct link to El Greco in many Expressionist landscapes that utilized a more organic approach to color and form like in the works of Vincent van Gogh. Christiansen has written that above all, El Greco "was both the quintessential Spaniard and a proto-modern - a painter of the spirit," who rejected a materialist culture and chased the "inner mystical" constructions of life.

He emphasizes, that, aside from El Greco's immense influences on various art movements and artists, it remains the spiritual and mystical attributes of his work that establishes his universal legacy.