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El Greco (Domenikos Theotokópoulos)
Candia, Creta, 1541-Toledo, 1614
c. 1596-1600
Oil on canvas, 113.8 x 65.4 cm
Contributed by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia in 1920
The Annunciation, another theme very dear to El Greco, is a reduced version of the great canvas kept in the Prado Museum that he painted for the altarpiece of the Incarnation Church in the María de Aragón College in Madrid, commissioned in 1596. The work obeys El Greco’s custom of repeating in small canvases his most successful or favourite works, as confirmed by Pacheco: "He showed me, in 1611 (...) the originals of everything he had painted in his lifetime, (...) in smaller canvases (...)." The painting, another smaller version of which is kept in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, presents an innovative iconography in which the Virgin Mary, surprised by the arrival of the archangel, stands up and turns towards him while a beautiful group of musician angels fills the upper area and a crowd of cherubs make way for the Holy Ghost, symbolised by the rays of light and the dove, indi-cating the moment of the Incarnation. Painted in an extraordinarily free-flowing manner and with a splendid colour range, this is a highly representative late work by El Greco. Domenikos Theotokópoulos was born in Candia, the capital of Crete, where he began training as a painter of icons. After working in Venice he moved to Rome, where he enjoyed the protection of cardinal Alexander Farnesio and was considered to be an "excellent painter". Attracted by the great decorative ensembles of El Escorial, El Greco travelled to Spain in 1577 and settled permanently in Toledo, a cultured and refined city that inspired his best works. [A.S.L.]
En su primer largo Los 400 golpes relata su autobiografía, la vida de un niño desamparado en el personaje de Antoine Doinel encarnado por el actor Jean-Pierre Leaud. A medida que va creciendo el personaje sigue desarrollándose en Antoine et Colette, Besos robados, Domicilio conyugal y El amor en fuga. Para André Bazin, director espiritual de la “nouvelle vague” fue una especie de hijo adoptivo. Colaboró en Arts y en Cahiers de Cinema siendo sus críticas las más ácidas contra el cine oficial francés “de qualité”, defendiendo a ultranza el cine norteamericano y creando la política de autores. Curiosamente desarrolla en su cine un tono literario que está en contradicción con el cine que defendía. Productor de la mayoría de sus películas, la temática más abundante es la amorosa: Jules et Jim, La piel suave, Diario intimo de Adela H, El amante del amor, La mujer de al lado, Las dos inglesas y el amor. Es menos feliz adaptando obras literarias de envergadura: Tirad sobre el pianista, Farenheit 451, La novia vestida de negro, La sirena del Mississippi, Vivamente el domingo. Sus obras más personales son La piel dura, La noche americana, La habitación verde y El pequeño salvaje.
Es autor de dos libros que son obras maestras: Las películas de mi vida y Hitchcock – Truffaut (El cine según Hitchcock) que se han convertido en clásicos. Truffaut queda como el único autor de la nouvelle vague que ha perseguido realizar una carrera personal sin haber perdido el contacto con el público, en este caso mayoritario, al margen de elitismos y capillistas.
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The Cinemateque has a fixed programme that is projected in the Museum auditorium twice daily on Fridays and Saturdays.
Entrance is not permitted to the Auditorium once the projection has begun.
For additional information download the programme.

03|06|10 • 05|22|10
Self-taught Werner Herzog founded his own Film Production company when he was 20 years old. The following year, he started shooting ... 
01|15|10 • 03|05|10
Self-taught Werner Herzog founded his own Film Production company when he was 20 years old. The following year, he started shooting ... 
American Cinema of the 70s (I)
10|02|09 • 01|09|10
Peter Biskind's film, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" describes the tremendous change that occurred in Hollywood in the '70's i... 
An homage to Segundo de Chomón
12|10|09 • 12|10|09
El Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao y la Cinemateca, en colaboración con la Filmoteca de Catalunya, organizan el día... 
11|23|09 • 11|29|09
The museum film library will be one of the headquarters of the 51st Edition of the ZINEBI, International Festiva... 