El Greco

Doménikos Theotokópoulos trained as an icon painter in Venetian-ruled Crete, then studied Titian and Tintoretto in Venice and worked in Rome. In 1577 he settled in Toledo, where he stayed for the rest of his life, still signing his pictures in Greek letters and often adding "Cretan". His elongated figures, flickering light and acid colour puzzled many contemporaries. Rediscovered around 1900, he was hailed as a forerunner of both Expressionism and Cubism.