Hispanics are proud to have some of the greatest artists to ever live whose names have been highlighted throughout their rich heritage of art and literature. Considered Spain’s Siglo de Oro, the 16th and 17th century saw the birth of Hispanic art with the work of some of the most prominent Spanish artists including El Greco and Diego Velazquez; whereas Francisco de Goya dominated Spanish art during the 18th century.
The 20th century was known prominently for the work of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. El Greco was a Cretan-born Spanish painter whose dramatic and expressionistic artistic style is characterized by the use of elongated figures and phantasmagorical skin coloring. The abstractness of El Greco’s work made it widely disregarded during his lifetime but posthumously his work found appreciation during the 20th century where it would become a source of inspiration for artists and writers alike.
El Greco’s unique and imaginative style is best exemplified in his works The Burial of the Count and The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. Diego Velazquez was a gifted painter who painted religious, mythological and common life scenes. He was known foremost for his portraits of the reigning monarch and royal family while serving as a prominent artist in King Philip IV’s court. His masterpiece and most famous work is, Las Meninas, which is a group portrait of the royal family and Velazquez himself in the act of painting.
Francisco Goya, considered to be “the Father of Modern Art,” was a court painter to the Spanish crown during the 18th century. His work initially reflected the Rococo style but gradually evolved into a distinct style involving the use of subversive and subjective elements and the bold handling of paint. His most famous works include La Gallina, El Chacharrero and El Pelele. Salvador Dali was a flamboyant painter who is best known for being one of the greatest Surrealist artists.
Dali utilized bizarre dreamlike imagery to create imaginative landscapes. His most famous work is The Persistence of Memory, a surrealist piece which is well known for introducing the image of the melting pocket watch. Pablo Picasso began as a child prodigy and evolved into the greatest painter of the 20th century. Picasso’s first fame came from his role in developing the artistic style of Cubism, which is characterized by objects being broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form.
Picasso’s greatest works include Guernica, which depicted the bombing of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, an oil painting portraying five nude female prostitutes on Avinyo Street in Barcelona. Bibliography “Spanish Painters. ” don Quijote. 2009. don Quijote S. L. 18 Oct. 2009 Oak, Manali. “Famous Hispanic Painters. ” Buzzle. com. 2009. Buzzle. com. 18 Oct. 2009 “The Museum of El Prado. ” Spanish Arts. 2009. SpanishArts. com. 18 Oct. 2009
