Image: public domain, courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago
The Assumption of the Virgin
The Virgin Mary rises toward heaven, where calm and graceful angels gaze at her as she comes near. Below, the apostles crowd around her empty tomb, their faces and hands full of wonder and emotion.
🎧 Audio guide available in the 3D museum
Did you know?
- El Greco was born on the Greek island of Crete, and his Spanish nickname simply means "the Greek".
- This was his first major commission in Spain: the main altarpiece of the convent church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo.
- The canvas is huge, more than 4 metres tall.
- It stayed in the church for more than 200 years, until it was sold around 1830.
- The painter Mary Cassatt worked hard to find it a buyer, and in 1906 it came to the Art Institute of Chicago.
- In 2025 it travelled to the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the paintings of the altarpiece were shown together for the first time since they were scattered.
About the artist
El Greco (1541–1614), born Doménikos Theotokópoulos on the island of Crete, worked in Venice and Rome before settling in Toledo, Spain, in 1577.
He is famous for his elongated, flame-like figures and glowing colors, in works such as The Burial of the Count of Orgaz and View of Toledo.
In Spain everyone simply called him “the Greek”, and he proudly went on signing his paintings with his full name in Greek letters.
More works
View of ToledoEl Greco, c. 1599–1600
Ginevra de' BenciLeonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/78
The Alba MadonnaRaphael, c. 1510
The HarvestersPieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565
Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by ChildrenGian Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1616–17
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