The Annunciation is a subject El Greco addressed in his earliest Italian works. These reflected the pronounced imprint of Venetian painting. Thirty years later, El Greco took on the subject anew and gave it a fresh interpretation. In this version, his personal artistic expression dominates the composition.

The composition is based on the customary distinction between the earthly and heavenly spheres. In the lower half of the canvas the archangel approaches the Virgin Mary. In the upper half, a choir of angels plays. But El Greco fuses the two worlds: the heavenly sphere intrudes from above into the earthly world of the Madonna below. A group of angels’ heads lines the path of the sparkling white dove of the Holy Spirit as it descends earthward. The angels’ heads seem almost to inundate the earthly sphere with the Virgin at its centre. This dynamic relation of the two worlds is new.