Christ on the Cross

El Greco (Domenico Theotokopoulos)

1600–1610

Oil on canvas, Oil, Canvas

J. Paul Getty Museum

In this painting, El Greco combines the iconic power of the crucifix with the expressive power of landscape painting. He sets the cross atop Golgotha, the "place of the skull," with Jerusalem looming in the background. He eliminates the other characters from the biblical narrative, encouraging the viewer to contemplate Christ and his suffering. El Greco's dramatic colors and exaggerated proportions distort the figure, illustrating the transcendent moments before death, when Christ sublimated his physical pain and commended his spirit to God. Light plays across his undulating form, illuminating his tortured body against the dark back