Facts about El Greco and Expressionism
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In Spain, El Greco's visionary elongations and spiritual intensity were largely dismissed for centuries before modernists reframed them as proto-Expressionist qualities.
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The distorted, elongated figures in El Greco's paintings were rediscovered by early modernists who saw them as anticipating Expressionism's rejection of naturalistic representation.
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Julius Meier-Graefe's influential art criticism helped reframe El Greco as a proto-Expressionist, connecting his spiritual distortion to modern emotional painting.
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German Expressionist Franz Marc and August Macke visited the exhibition where El Greco's work helped spark recognition of him as a proto-Expressionist master.
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Early 20th-century Expressionist artists cited El Greco's elongated figures and intense emotional distortion as a direct precursor to their own movement.