EL GRECO - Life, Works & Painting Style | Great Artists simply Explained in 3 minutes!

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco, was one of the most important painters of the Spanish Renaissance and Mannerism. He was also active as a sculptor and architect.
El Greco was born around 1541 on the Greek island of Crete and trained as an icon painter in the Byzantine tradition. He first moved to Venice, then to Rome and later settled in Toledo, Spain. He also spent the majority of his life there. His art was promoted less by the nobility and more by intellectuals and the clergy. It is known that he had a son who was also a Spanish painter and architect. His mother Jerónima de las Cuevas served as a model for El Greco. It is not known whether they were married. However, the son grew up with El Greco after his mother's early death. He died in 1614 at the age of around 73.
His painting style developed from naturalism to an individual style. In his late work, he increasingly referred back to his origins as an icon painter. He preferred dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, which gave his works an unmistakable atmosphere. His figures are often elongated and exaggerated, resulting in a mystical and expressive effect.
El Greco mainly painted religious images and portraits of influential personalities, complemented by a few landscapes. In Spain, he also devoted himself to extensive altarpiece projects, for which he often also created the architectural framework.
One of his masterpieces is "The Disrobing of Christ". It shows his unique style, as the figures are depicted expressively and the play of light and shadow lends the painting a mystical aura.
The religious painting "The Holy Trinity" shows the dramatic use of light and color.
The "Burial of the Count of Orgaz" is an impressive altarpiece, as El Greco interweaves heavenly and earthly spheres in this work.
Over the course of his life, he created several hundred works, from paintings to sculptures. With his individual style, he went his own way and his art received little appreciation after his death. Then, around the nineteen hundreds, the art world rediscovered him.

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Thank you for introducing so many interesting artists. It is a joy to learn snapshots of art history.