El Greco lent the painting its expressive and mystical quality through his use of colour and light. He also manipulates different levels of reality, and seems to reverse them. St. Veronica, who is actually the three-dimensional figure of the composition, is rendered in a rather flat style. Indeed, she seems disembodied, dematerialised and dissolved in light. In contrast, El Greco gives the Image of Christ, which is in actuality two-dimensional, a three-dimensional, corporeal appearance. The impression is heightened by yet another contrast: while St. Veronica turns her face away from us, the image of Christ stares directly at us.