I liked all of Lopez's work, and his cityscapes in particular (contemporary views of Madrid seen from the concrete rooftops of apartment buildings). The building colors, faded from the sun, give off a kind of granite pink pastel light. They're huge. The city, painted in almost realistic detail, takes up only the lower third. Above is the pale almost white sky, dusty and smoggy, mounted like a summery halo.
I thought, "almost realistic". Where was the graffiti? Where were the parked and moving cars clogging all the narrow streets and alley? His Madrid is serene, spiritual.
Earlier, we saw the "El Greco to Velasquez" exhibit. What a great idea, having the two exhibits of Spanish artists staged at the same time!
El Greco's people are pale and gaunt. More than pale, they're chalky and starving. As if everything they've got is put into their prayers and devotions. One exception in the exhibit, in the painting, "Saint Martin and the Beggar", Saint Martin, mounted on a powerful white horse, gives half his beautiful green robe, to a beggar. The beggar is a young man, nearly naked, clean shaven, oddly fresh out of the barber shop -- and he's darker skinned than anyone else in El Greco's paintings.
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