El Greco painted numerous versions of St. Mary Magdalene in Penitence. In the exhibition we have the opportunity to compare two different treatments of the subject.

St. Mary Magdalene is the symbol of Christian penance. In line with the artistic conventions of his age, El Greco portrays the saint as an attractive and sensuous young woman, who thus ideally personifies sin, conversion, penance and forgiveness. The Mary Magdalene in this picture has distinctly worldly traits and is portrayed as the embodiment of the "eternal woman". The green leaves of ivy are a symbol of constancy and fidelity, the skull alludes to the transience of earthly things. The painting foreshadows El Greco’s later style in a number of respects: the saint’s large eyes directed to a vision, the gesture of her elongated hands, the contrast between the colours of her cloak which range from blue to lilac, her red hair, and the light that falls upon her from the clouds above.