Spanish art has a history of over five hundred years. Spanish art is renowned for being diverse and innovative. El Greco, Greek by birth and Italian by training, settled in Toledo, and was the most vital visual representative of Spanish religious fervor of the sixteenth century. The Espolio and the Burial of the Count de Orgaz are his recognized masterpieces. His work reflected the Mannerist tendencies of elongating the human figure, dramatizing rather than describing events, and using symbolism and visual allegories to convey complex meanings.

The Baroque period of the seventeenth century marked the appearance of Francisco de Zurbaran and Diego Velazquez. Zurbaran’s important works include The Apostle St. Andrew, Still Life with Oranges, Lemons and Rose, Rest on the Flight to Egypt and St. Francis. Zurbaran’s art is baroque because of its intense spirituality. Diego Velazquez was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. Some of his important works are The Waterseller of Seville, Pope Innocent X, Juan de Pareja and The Maids of Honor. Velazquez’s compositions display the baroque qualities of movement, energy with tension, strong contrasts of light and shadow, and realism, which means that the figures in his paintings are not types but individuals with their own personalities.

Francisco Goya was also an artist who served in the courts of the Spanish monarchs. He drew portraits of the figures at the court and his paintings reflected contemporary historical upheavals. The Disasters of War records the horrors of the Napoleonic invasion. His masterpieces in painting include, “The Naked Maja,” “The Clothed Maja,” and “The 3rd of May 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid.” The characteristics of his works are quick, loose, thick brushstrokes, the use of the color black, rough and with out detailed backgrounds along with a talent for capturing movement. He was therefore given the responsibility of making portraits of the royal family members.

The twentieth century introduced two very original artists to the Spanish art scene, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. Pablo Picasso pioneered the modern art movement called cubism, invented ‘collage’ as an artistic technique and developed assemblage, or constructions of various materials in sculpture. His most noteworthy characteristic was the way in which he continuously modified and even significantly changed his painting style. In 1937 the artist created his landmark painting ‘Guernica’, a protest against the barbaric air raid against a Basque village during the Spanish Civil War. Guernica is a huge mural on canvas in black, white and grey; the imagery of the gored horse, the fallen soldier, and screaming mothers with dead babies was employed to condemn the useless destruction of life.

Salvador Dali was a painter and printmaker, well-known for his explorations of subconscious imagery. The development of his artistic style was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s writings on the erotic significance of the subconscious, and his affiliation with the Paris Surrealists, who sought to establish the “greater reality” of man’s subconscious over his reason.