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I think of this painting as being about Toledo
or "toe-lay-doh" as it would say in Spain.
And it was a response to drawings they made
at the city of Toledo
when I was on a sabbatical in 1964 or '65.
The drawings affected me. And I had seen great paintings,
a particularly great painting by El Greco
of Toledo. In a way this is a homage,
or a homage To El Greco
as well as the city, which
is very enthralling, and beautiful,
magnificent as viewed from a distance
and up close as well. And this is
with liberty taken, it is
it really isn't a city in grays and whites. It's actually a city
in tones of brown and gray and tan.
But I think the idea of translating it
or transforming it, was what I was concerned with.
In that sense, I think I would
regard Picasso Cubism
and Morandi as resources
that would impact on me, that would affect me in that way.
This painting is a...is a kind of a
reflection of those influences
and an
attempt to portray it
in a manner that would give it an independent life.
This was in the mid '60s.
We go through different phases in our life.
And it was...I was responding to different things,
responding to different impulses, being affected by different
factors in what I see
in the arts.