abstract:The Opening of the Fifth Seal (or The Fifth Seal of the Apocalypse or The Vision of Saint John) was painted in the last years of El Greco's life for a side-altar of the church of Saint John the Baptist outside the walls of Toledo. Before 1908 El Greco's painting was referred to as Profane Love.
TheNew YorkpainterJohnCurrinremembers that hisfirstbigmuseum experience wasgoing totheMetropolitan museum ofArtwhenhe was 10and seeing "the Openingof the FifthSeal."