Art Review: El Greco Show in Paris Flawed but Gorgeous

Run, don’t walk, to see an El Greco show. Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541–1614), is uniquely sublime and rarely had a bad day, so an exhibition of his work is certain to inspire. It doesn’t matter if the show’s intellectually dodgy or awkwardly arranged or blandly interpreted. It doesn’t matter if it’s in Timbuktu. Run, don’t walk. He’s that good.

Paris is far nicer than Timbuktu. The new show at the Grand Palais is called “Greco.” That warned me. El Greco now has a brand. The name says it all. Slap “Greco” on a billboard or banner, and you’ve grabbed an audience, much as a high-end logo does. It’s by no means a bad show. The art is gorgeous. I’d seen most of the paintings before, but some were fresh to me. The old favorites continued to dazzle. As much as I enjoyed seeing so many great things in the El Greco show, I found myself conjuring my inner 1980s. “Where’s the beef?”

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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Run, don’t walk, to see an El Greco show. Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco (1541–1614), is uniquely sublime and rarely had a bad day, so an exhibition of his work is certain to inspire. It doesn’t matter if the show’s intellectually dodgy or awkwardly arranged or blandly interpreted. It doesn’t matter if it’s in Timbuktu. Run, don’t walk. He’s that good.

Paris is far nicer than Timbuktu. The new show at the Grand Palais is called “Greco.” That warned me. El Greco now has a brand. The name says it all. Slap “Greco” on a billboard or banner, and you’ve grabbed an audience, much as a high-end logo does. It’s by no means a bad show. The art is gorgeous. I’d seen most of the paintings before, but some were fresh to me. The old favorites continued to dazzle. As much as I enjoyed seeing so many great things in the El Greco show, I found myself conjuring my inner 1980s. “Where’s the beef?”