The year 2014 marked the fourth centenary of the death of El Greco. To commemorate it, the city where he spent most of his life and forged his reputation as a painter held two consecutive exhibitions dedicated to his career at the Museo de Santa Cruz.
For both of these exhibitions, Empty was commissioned to fit out the space and produce, assemble and then dismantle all the contents, except for the lighting: from the exhibition architecture to the audiovisuals and the room texts. Empty also coordinated the arrival of the works at the museum, the vast majority of which were paintings from museums and private collectors all over the world, including Spain, other countries in Europe, the USA and Japan. Many of these works had been acquired in Spain and had never returned since being taken out of the country.
The main challenges of these exhibitions were the widely vary formats of the works (from an elaborate triptych of the Greek period to a large altar piece made in Toledo, as well as special pieces, delicate drawings and documents and small sculptures); the long list of lenders, each with their own demands; and the aim of recreating certain settings to reflect the way they were conceived by El Greco, who as both architect and painter used his creative gifts to produce comprehensive projects in which the space and works formed a single entity.
Empty was also commissioned to design the installation for another exhibition of works by El Greco at the sacristy of the Hospital Talavera.
