El Greco: View of Toledo
I would like to pick up the idea of electricity from the previous review and see how well (very well) it fits into this landscape (hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York — and you will find an interesting thematic essay on this website). The raptured, electrified sky casts a distinct white glow on the city below. As it often occurs, the turbulent weather translates into an according inner sensation of fear and danger. The view presents an unwelcoming sight, which, however, conceals a certain charm and mystery — a fairy tale narrative quality that lures the beholder inside the vision. The composition plays an important role in this seduction: the line of the wall chalks out the ascent, where the cathedral and the royal palace appear to almost touch the stormy skies; this compositional apex promises a reward in the form of a visual feast — a lightning deeming itself an explosion, or a firework. The hole right in the middle of the cloud simultaneously channels and releases the tension.
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The greenery in the foreground provides an antidote to the urban setting, albeit due to the dark mood it is difficult to define it as “pastoral.” Still, the artist efficiently presents the dichotomy of nature and an inhabited locality, and carries through the rich idea of wilderness both tamed and intimidating. Venturing outside the city walls seems like a daunting task, but a possible one, and, once again, a tempting one. Another recurring motif, technical this time, comes to mind: the lower parts of the painting exhibit remarkable accuracy and precision, the architecture and the wild growth being rendered realistically, whereas the upper part displays chaos and fantastical confusion. Randomly scattered blots of color defy the order below. Brush stroke grow bolder and wider; it appears that the artist uses these white patches as a palette, drawing color out of them to produce a ghastly whitish veil.
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I want to suggest an interesting comparison. Giorgione’s The Tempest, (hanging in Gallerie Dell’Accademia, Venice — only in Italian) contains exactly the same set of features. There is the thundercloud and lightning, a city, and a creek below. The Venetian’s painting is still considered enigmatic, for many reasons that are not the theme of this review (Britannica full article about Giorgione).There is one thing that distinguishes it from El Greco’s piece: the man and the woman on both sides of the river. Simply by eliminating the similar features, we may arrive at the notion that either of the paintings — or both — deal with the female and male principle; with masculinity and femininity as the two opposites that charge our life with so much electricity, and which may imply countless variations on the theme of order and chaos. That El Greco studied in Venice may prove this comparison quite reasonable.
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