2:04

“There’s something very contemporary about the struggles that [ El Greco ] went through in his career, and his personality. We know a lot more about El Greco than we do about other artists of the period, thanks to all the records of the trials and lawsuits and everything else. We really have a sense of him as a person and what he wanted for his career, and it’s the same basic struggles that anyone who’s trying to make it as an artist faces. Even though it was 400 years ago.” — Rebecca Long, Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Associate Curator of European Painting and Sculpture

One of the many extraordinary exhibitions around the world that are closed now due to the COVID-19 pandemic is El Greco: Ambition and Defiance at the Art Institute of Chicago. Like many institutions throughout the art world, the AIC is increasing its online engagement and has now released this exhibition trailer.

From the Art Institute of Chicago:

Explore the exhibition “El Greco: Ambition and Defiance” with curator Rebecca Long and research associate Jena Carvana. Follow along as they lead you through the galleries and share some of the reasons El Greco and his work continue to fascinate us. […]

This major exhibition charts the career of the artist known simply as El Greco. Over 57 works from across the world trace not only the development of his distinctive style but also the astounding ambition that drove him to relentlessly pursue success. […]

Since El Greco’s death, writers, critics, and other observers have struggled with how and where to situate him. Was he a Byzantine icon painter transformed by the artistic revolution of the Italian Renaissance? A social climber desperately seeking noble patronage? A devout believer swept up by fervent mysticism? A proto-Modernist? Was he Greek, Italian, or Spanish? El Greco: Ambition and Defiance looks to his works themselves for answers. By charting the development of his remarkable style across 57 artworks, including large-scale canvases and more intimate panel paintings and sculptures, the exhibition reveals El Greco as a socially and artistically ambitious striver who expected his immense talents to be appropriately acknowledged and rewarded.