Laocoön c. 1610 - 1614

Editor: This is "Laocoön," painted by El Greco around 1610-1614, done in oil paint. It depicts Laocoön and his sons being attacked by serpents, and the figures seem elongated and almost anguished. What catches your eye when you look at this piece? Curator: Certainly. Notice the distortion of the human form. The bodies are not rendered naturalistically, but rather elongated, flattened and imbued with a sinuous, almost serpentine quality, mirroring their literal tormentors. The composition utilizes a deliberate flattening of space, pushing the figures forward. What effect do you think that has? Editor: It definitely intensifies the scene, creating a claustrophobic and emotionally charged experience. So you think El Greco is playing with our perceptions of space and form to convey a particular emotional state? Curator: Precisely. Look at the chromatic intensity – the juxtaposition of cool blues and greens in the turbulent sky against the warmer flesh tones of the figures. Note how this visual discord reinforces the painting’s themes of suffering and divine wrath. Also consider the surface quality. The brushstrokes are visible, lending the work an immediacy that transcends mere narrative depiction. Editor: The expressive brushwork adds to the dramatic intensity for sure. Curator: Consider the historical narrative, less important here than El Greco’s abstraction of it. The artist emphasizes formal elements – color, line, shape – to evoke profound emotional and psychological depths, achieving what we could call the sublime. It makes me wonder, how else does this work play with semiotics in its representation? Editor: Thinking about it purely formally like that really reframes my understanding of what the artist might have been aiming for here, going beyond just the storytelling! Curator: Exactly!