In collaboration with the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome and Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia
Following the success of the exhibition dedicated to the ideal dialogue between Giotto and Lucio Fontana, centered on gold and its symbolism, the MAN Museum presents a new, original project for Christmas 2024. This exhibition will explore the dialogue between two masterpieces by El Greco, born Domínikos Theotokópoulos (1541–1614), the renowned master of Spain’s Golden Age. El Greco is famous for his elongated forms, luminescent tones, and the intense rhythm of lines and gestures on canvas.
Dubbed the “Delacroix of the Renaissance” and the “Nabi of beautiful icons,” and admired by Cézanne and Picasso—who proclaimed his debt with the phrase, “Yo soy El Greco!”—El Greco stands as one of the greatest figures of late Renaissance European painting.
Born in Crete in the first half of the sixteenth century, then part of the Republic of Venice, he moved to Venice in 1567.
In search of a new way of painting, a dynamic dimension that departed from the two-dimensional, abstract, and static universe of Eastern tradition, he worked in the workshop of the elderly Titian. From him, he learned the expressive use of color: vibrant, intense, thick, luminous, and spiritual. In Venice, he was struck by the sense of movement and the dramatic use of light by Tintoretto. From Jacopo Bassano, he absorbed the formal elements of pictorial narration, the use of perspective, and architectural backgrounds.
After a brief and tumultuous stay in Rome as a guest of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, he moved to Toledo, dreaming of winning the favor of King Felipe II and being appointed the official painter of the cathedral. Although he did not achieve this honor, he found prestigious commissions in the Spanish city that allowed him to develop his vibrant pictorial language, characterized by sudden bursts of light and bold twists of fluid bodies, which impart a keen expression of their feelings and the movements of the soul.
The MAN, thanks to a collaborative agreement with the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome, presents the recent discovery of a masterpiece by El Greco, The Adoration of the Magi. This work remained unknown for centuries and has only recently been attributed to the Cretan genius, thanks to a careful restoration and a scientific study campaign that has unveiled its troubled history. A documentary film produced by the MAN and directed by Stefano Conca Bonizzoni, featuring contributions from Claudio Strinati, Fabrizio Biferali, and Fabio Porzio, introduces visitors to the exhibition, which also includes a second masterpiece, The Blessing Christ from the Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia, returning from an important retrospective of the master at the Royal Palace of Milan.
