El Greco

El Greco was born in 1541 near Heraklion on the greek island of Crete and died in 1614 in Toledo, Spain. The painting you see here is a "View on the city of Toledo" dated +/- 1600.
( NY MOMA )
We still find this painter attractive today, he is really an icon of catholisism and representation of different saints. When I was in Madrid I especially went looking for him in the Prado and the Museum Thyssen-Borneszima and I can say I was really impressed by the powerful force you experience by looking at his works.
The fierce colours he uses, the long-stretched figures who are anatomically impossible, but gives each painting a very dramatic tension. When you see an El Greco painting, always look at the right hand of the character, you will notice that the fingers are crossed. That was his signature.
I very much like the passion and the pain I feel when looking at his works, to me he is one of the greatest en certainly most unique painters I know.
The view on Toledo you see here, I find a very dark and depressing painting, the coming tempest predicts us times of violence and tragedy.. Also the very low perspective reminds us of the littleness ( nothingness ) of man in relation to history, faith and fortune.

I hope you enjoy him as much as I do.