I could write about his background, how Domenikos Theotokopoulos was born in Crete, trained as a painter in Italy and developed his unique style in his adopted city of Toledo where he became known as El Greco, "the Greek." About how his elongated figures seemed to stretch between heaven and earth, how his painting style presaged modernism. And how after he failed to win a royal commission and the capital moved to Madrid his art remained "lost" until the 19th Century when Toledo was "discovered" by Romantic era travelers.
Museo El Greco
That would just be copying what art historians had written. It wasn't until today that I appreciated, or understood, what El Greco was all about. There are works by El Greco all around Toledo but the El Greco Museum brings it all together. It sits in a restored house in the neighborhood where the Greek lived and painted. It is filled with his paintings and those who were influenced by his style and others who blatantly copied his works.
Twelve Apostles
Here you can get nose-to-nose with each of his "Twelve Apostles," close enough to see the textures, layers and individual brush stokes that make his paintings so luminous. (I admit that the ten-minute primer on what to look for in each of the paintings helped immensely.) But the point is this was one of those "Ah ha!" moments that frequently happen when traveling. When you learn something new. When something clicks into place.
