El Greco the expressionist
In Christ with the Cross, El Greco constructs the figure masterfully. The painterly treatment of the flesh tones creates a play of colours and subtle hues achieved with loose glazes, in which the drawing gradually disappears.
He gradually builds up the face using white, almost transparent brushstrokes, which enable him to create strong colour contrasts between areas of light and shade.
In the area of the eyes, he applies subtle touches of white and crimson, achieving a powerful intensity in the gaze, a characteristic of this painter’s portraits. The high degree of simplification and the freedom of the brushwork in this painting give it a certain expressionistic quality.
