The Assumption of the Virgin

This is a very large painting, about four meters tall and just over two meters wide. It is much taller than it is wide, like a great doorway. It is oil paint on canvas. The subject is the Assumption, the moment when the Virgin Mary's body is raised up into heaven. The picture is divided into two zones. Down below, on earth, stand the apostles, the closest followers of Jesus. Above them is the realm of heaven, crowded with angels. The Virgin looms large between the two, rising from the group below toward the angels above.

Start with the lower part of the painting, where the apostles gather. Look at their faces and hands. Each man reacts differently, with agitated poses and sweeping gestures that show a range of emotions. They seem so individual that El Greco may have worked from real models in his studio. Then lift your eyes to the angels at the top. They are calm and graceful, and all of them focus directly on the Virgin as she rises. Finally, step close to the surface and notice the broad, free brushstrokes and the flickering colors.

El Greco was Greek and worked in Spain. He painted this between 1577 and 1579. It was the central image of his first major commission, an altarpiece for the Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, a convent in Toledo. An altarpiece is a painting made to stand above a church altar. To fit its tall, narrow shape, he compressed many figures into a small space. He used rich color harmonies and bold arrangements of figures, with the aim of stirring devotion in the viewer and giving a deep sense of faith.

The subject was chosen with care. The church was meant to serve as the funerary monument of a wealthy noblewoman, Doña Maria de Silva, so the whole commission focuses on death and salvation. The Virgin's body being lifted into heaven offers a hopeful picture of what follows death. Before you leave, trace the path your eye takes from the restless apostles at the bottom up to the quiet angels at the top. The Virgin's rising figure links the two, and the journey from earthly turmoil to heavenly calm is the heart of the picture.