Chapter 1
From Greek icons to Italian drama
Chapter 2
The Toledo masterpieces and royal rejections
Chapter 3
The radical techniques that broke the rules
Chapter 4
The forgotten ghost who inspired Picasso
YOUR GOAL
Master of How El Greco bent the rules of art
Ch 4 · The forgotten ghost who inspired Picasso
andy El Greco and Picasso
I sign my sketches as El Greco (oh yeah!) / I breathe his spirit in my lines (oh-oh!)
andy Pablo Picasso obsessed over El Greco, copying his figures to invent the revolutionary style of Cubism.
Fun Fact
The El Greco Fallacy: The scientific term for assuming an artist's distorted style is caused by bad eyesight is called the 'El Greco Fallacy'.
Glossary
cubism (noun)
An early twentieth-century style of art in which subjects are represented as geometric shapes from multiple viewpoints. In 1907, Pablo Picasso drew inspiration from El Greco's distorted figures to help pioneer this revolutionary movement.
An early twentieth-century style of art in which subjects are represented as geometric shapes from multiple viewpoints. In 1907, Pablo Picasso drew inspiration from El Greco's distorted figures to help pioneer this revolutionary movement.
Quiz
Which of Picasso's famous early cubist paintings directly copied El Greco's 'The Opening of the Fifth Seal'?
Quiz
Why does the 'El Greco Fallacy' prove his style was a deliberate choice rather than bad eyesight?