Hola Valencia

Until June 15th, you’ll have a chance to see a great exhibition of paintings by El Greco, in the San Pío V Museum of Fine Arts.

The exhibition (which is unfortunately only in Spanish) focuses on the painter’s relationship with the city of Toledo, around 1900. At the turn of the century, El Greco had been dead for hundreds of years and his work had fallen into artistic obscurity. But in early 20th century Toledo, thanks largely to the work of the Marquis Vega Inclán, El Greco was rediscovered and reintroduced to the world. Today, of course, he is considered one of Spain’s preeminent masters… though, yes yes, he’s Greek.

The exhibition is interesting — plenty of El Greco’s striking paintings are on display, including portraits of all 12 apostles, along with photographs that show how damaged they were before being rediscovered. Our favorite was the Tears of St. Peter — if you’re interested, you can read more about it.

This was our first time to the museum, and as it was rainy out, we took the time to fully explore it. It’s a wonderful building, adjacent to the Viveros Gardens, and if you’re at all interested in art, you’ll be pleased to have gone. And it’s free on Sundays! I think this may be true of all the museums in Valencia.