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El Greco in Washington: A 400th Anniversary Celebration

El Greco - Laocoön

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)
Laocoön, c. 1610/1614
oil on canvas
Samuel H. Kress Collection

El Greco - Christ Cleansing the Temple

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)
Christ Cleansing the Temple, before 1570
oil on canvas
Samuel H. Kress Collection

El Greco in Washington: 400th Anniversary Celebration The 400th anniversary of El Greco’s death is remembered at the National Gallery of Art with an exhibition of 11 paintings from the Gallery, Dumbarton Oaks, the Phillips Collection, and the Walters Art Museum. November 2, 2014 through February 16, 2015.]]>

Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington

With seven paintings by El Greco (1541–1614), the Gallery has one of the largest collections of his work in the United States, made possible by the generosity of the Gallery’s early benefactors Andrew W. Mellon, Samuel H. Kress, Joseph Widener, and Chester Dale. “El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration” includes some of the artist’s most beloved paintings, renowned for compositions of bold colors and subjects with dramatic expression.

This exhibition showcases the artist’s groundbreaking style of painting that fused elements of Byzantine and Renaissance art with the heightened spirituality of the Counter-Reformation,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. “El Greco’s expressive style fascinated early 20th-century American collectors who competed to acquire his paintings.”

The most famous painting in the exhibition is the “Laocoön” (c. 1610/1614, National Gallery of Art) No work by El Greco has inspired more controversy than his one surviving mythological painting. From the story of the Trojan horse in Virgil’s Aeneid, El Greco’s Laocoön symbolizes a number of topics from the Counter-Reformation, ranging from Christian martyrdom to criticism of the clergy. El Greco replaced Troy with a view of Toledo in the background, with a horse trotting toward one of the city’s principal gates.

Further highlights include “Christ Cleansing the Temple” (probably before 1570, National Gallery of Art), “Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata”, (1585–1590, The Walters Art Museum), and the unfinished “Saint Jerome” (c. 1610/1614, National Gallery of Art).

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El Greco in Washington: A 400th Anniversary Celebration