The reason I choose El Greco for my project is because of the day I went to the Chicago Art Institute and saw his paintings and I thought he used very unique colors in his paintings and I wondered about the unusual shapes. My mom said  that El Greco's paintings have oddly shaped objects because due to astigmatism.  I learned later that it also could have been due to madness or religous fervour.    

     He was born in Greece in 1541 and his name was not El Greco.  It was Domenikos Theotocopoulos but when he moved to Spain he became the Greek or El Greco in Spanish. He always signed his paintings using his real name and using Greek letters.  He studied under the great artist Titian and under fantastic Michelangelo.  In his lifetime he had a proud disposition but only had moderate financial sucess.  Some of his famous paintings are The View of Toledo, Christ on the Cross, Protrait of a Cardinal, Laocoon, and The Baptism of Christ.  Looking at all these paintings you do see that peoples legs are bent in a way that is not possible and it does make you think that he had astigmatism.  I don't think he was crazy but you decide.

     One very interesting thing about El Greco is that two hundred years after his death his painting inspired some of the greated artist of the Expressionist movement in the 1800's.