Metamorphosis of the Modern: the Greco in the Poetry between Ages

Abstract

This paper analyses the presence of El Greco in Hispanic literature at the turn of the century and, in particular, in the modernist poetry. Its most distinctive contribution is a type of short poem that makes an ekphrasis of a portrait by El Greco and follows, more or less accurately, the Parnassian manner. The most represented painting is El caballero de la mano al pecho. Secondly, other poems try to suggest the mystery of the city of Toledo, where El Greco appears as an essential element. Other appearances of the painter include being used as a comparative or its conception as a decadent and grotesque characteristic of "la España negra".