To his contemporaries in late 16th-century Venice, El Greco (1541–1614) was a contradictory figure, a natural artist endowed with exceptional talent, yet stubborn in the pursuit of his own path. Throughout his career, as he progressed from Crete to Venice, to Rome, and finally to Toledo, Spain, "The Greek" stood out from his peers, combining different Western artistic traditions to create a unique visual language. El Greco's unique style rejected naturalism and accessibility. Works such as The Disrobing of Christ (1577–79), The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586–88), and The Vision of Saint John (1608–14) reveal elongated, distorted forms, non-realistic colors, and experimental depiction of space — all resisted easy viewing and instead pursued an art of epic grandeur and intellectual beauty. Often regarded with suspicion and criticism during his lifetime, El Greco was revived by a group of devoted modern admirers, including Pablo Picasso, Roger Fry, and the pioneer of Der Blaue Reiter, Franz Mark. Today, the artist belongs to the privileged group of great old masters of painting, both an anomaly of his time and a benchmark across the centuries. This essential introduction from the TASCHEN Basic Art 2.0 series explores the influences and components of El Greco's radical and unique vision, from the symbolic world of Byzantine icons and the humanist values of the Renaissance to the principles of conceptual practice.

Pages: 96, Dimensions: 21x21cm