Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian
[
] artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, he founded the ''
scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influenced the
surrealists. His most well-known works often feature
Roman arcades, long shadows,
mannequin
A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles ...
s, trains, and illogical perspective. His imagery reflects his affinity for the philosophy of
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
and of
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
, and for the mythology of his birthplace.
After 1919, he became a critic of modern art, studied traditional painting techniques, and worked in a
neoclassical or neo-
Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work.
Life and works
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico was born in
Volos, Greece, as the eldest son of Gemma Cervetto and Evaristo de Chirico. His mother was a
baroness
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...
of
Genoese
Genoese may refer to:
* a person from Genoa
* Genoese dialect, a dialect of the Ligurian language
* Republic of Genoa (–1805), a former state in Liguria
See also
* Genovese, a surname
* Genovesi, a surname
*
*
*
*
* Genova (disambiguati ...
origins
[Nikolaos Velissiotis]
"The Origins of Adelaide Mabili and Her Marriage to Giorgio De Chirico: Restoration of the Historical Truth"
, ''Metaphysical Art'', 2013, N° 11/13. (likely born in
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
) and his father a
Sicilian ''
barone''
from a family of Greek descent (the Kyriko or Chirico family was of Greek origin, having moved from
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...
to
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...
in 1523 together with 4000 other
Greek Catholic families).
De Chirico's family was in Greece at the time of his birth because his father, an engineer, was in charge of the construction of a railroad. His younger brother, Andrea Francesco Alberto, became a famous writer, painter and composer under the pseudonym
Alberto Savinio.
Beginning in 1900, de Chirico studied drawing and painting at
Athens Polytechnic—mainly under the guidance of the Greek painters
Georgios Roilos and
Georgios Jakobides. After Evaristo de Chirico's death in 1905, the family relocated in 1906 to Germany, after first visiting Florence.
[Gale, Matthew (2003, January 01). "De Chirico, Giorgio". Grove Art Online. Ed.] De Chirico entered the
Academy of Fine Arts in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, where he studied under
Gabriel von Hackl and
Carl von Marr and read the writings of the philosophers
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
,
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
and
Otto Weininger. There, he also studied the works of
Arnold Böcklin
Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss symbolist painter.
Biography
He was born in Basel. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin (b. 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk trad ...
and
Max Klinger.
[see the entry on de Chirico in "Propyläen Kunstgeschichte, Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts 1880–1940", by Giulio Carlo Argan, 1990, p. 201, ] The style of his earliest paintings, such as ''The Dying Centaur'' (1909), shows the influence of Böcklin.
Metaphysical art
De Chirico returned to Italy in the summer of 1909 and spent six months in Milan. By 1910, he was beginning to paint in a simpler style of flat, anonymous surfaces. At the beginning of 1910, he moved to Florence where he painted the first of his 'Metaphysical Town Square' series, ''The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon'', after the revelation he felt in
Piazza Santa Croce
Piazza Santa Croce is one of the main plazas or squares located in the central neighbourhood of Florence, in the region of Tuscany, Italy.
It is located near Piazza della Signoria and the National Central Library, and takes its name from the ...
. He also painted ''The Enigma of the Oracle'' while in Florence. In July 1911 he spent a few days in Turin on his way to Paris. De Chirico was profoundly moved by what he called the 'metaphysical aspect' of
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...
, especially the architecture of its archways and piazzas.
The paintings de Chirico produced between 1909 and 1919, his metaphysical period, are characterized by haunted, brooding moods evoked by their images. At the start of this period, his subjects were motionless cityscapes inspired by the bright daylight of Mediterranean cities, but gradually he turned his attention to studies of cluttered storerooms, sometimes inhabited by
mannequin
A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles ...
-like hybrid figures.
De Chirico's conception of Metaphysical art was strongly influenced by his reading of Nietzsche, whose style of writing fascinated de Chirico with its suggestions of unseen auguries beneath the appearance of things. De Chirico found inspiration in the unexpected sensations that familiar places or things sometimes produced in him: In a manuscript of 1909 he wrote of the "host of strange, unknown and solitary things that can be translated into painting ... What is required above all is a pronounced sensitivity." Metaphysical art combined everyday reality with mythology, and evoked inexplicable moods of nostalgia, tense expectation, and estrangement. The picture space often featured illogical, contradictory, and drastically receding perspectives. Among de Chirico's most frequent motifs were arcades, of which he wrote: "The Roman arcade is fate ... its voice speaks in riddles which are filled with a peculiarly Roman poetry".
De Chirico moved to Paris in July 1911, where he joined his brother Andrea. Through his brother he met
Pierre Laprade, a member of the jury at the
Salon d'Automne
The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...
, where he exhibited three of his works: ''Enigma of the Oracle'', ''Enigma of an Afternoon'' and ''Self-Portrait''. During 1913 he exhibited paintings at the
Salon des Indépendants and Salon d’Automne; his work was noticed by
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...
and
Guillaume Apollinaire, and he sold his first painting, ''The Red Tower''. His time in Paris also resulted in the production of Chirico's
''Ariadne''. In 1914, through Apollinaire, he met the art dealer
Paul Guillaume, with whom he signed a contract for his artistic output.
At the outbreak of World War I, he returned to Italy. Upon his arrival in May 1915, he enlisted in the army, but he was considered unfit for work and assigned to the hospital at Ferrara. The shop windows of that town inspired a series of paintings that feature biscuits, maps, and geometric constructions in indoor settings. In Ferrara he met with
Carlo Carrà and together they founded the
pittura metafisica
Metaphysical painting ( it, pittura metafisica) or metaphysical art was a style of painting developed by the Italian artists Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà. The movement began in 1910 with de Chirico, whose dreamlike works with sharp contras ...
movement.
He continued to paint, and in 1918, he transferred to Rome. Starting from 1918, his work was exhibited extensively in Europe.
Return to order
In November 1919, de Chirico published an article in ''
Valori plastici'' entitled "The Return of Craftsmanship", in which he advocated a return to traditional methods and iconography. This article heralded an abrupt change in his artistic orientation, as he adopted a classicizing manner inspired by such old masters as
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...
and
Signorelli Signorelli is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Franco Signorelli (born 1991), Venezuelan footballer
* Frank Signorelli (1901–1975), American jazz pianist
* James Signorelli, American film director and cinematographer
* Luca ...
, and became part of the post-war
return to order in the arts. He became an outspoken opponent of
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
.
In the early 1920s, the Surrealist writer
André Breton
André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...
discovered one of de Chirico's metaphysical paintings on display in Guillaume's Paris gallery, and was enthralled. Numerous young artists who were similarly affected by de Chirico's imagery became the core of the Paris Surrealist group centered around Breton. In 1924 de Chirico visited Paris and was accepted into the group, although the surrealists were severely critical of his post-metaphysical work.
De Chirico met and married his first wife, the Russian ballerina Raissa Gurievich (1894-1979) in 1925, and together they moved to Paris.
[Holzhey 2005, p. 94.] His relationship with the Surrealists grew increasingly contentious, as they publicly disparaged his new work; by 1926 he had come to regard them as "cretinous and hostile". They soon parted ways in acrimony. In 1928 he held his first exhibition in New York City and shortly afterwards, London. He wrote essays on art and other subjects, and in 1929 published a novel entitled ''Hebdomeros, the Metaphysician''. Also in 1929, he made
stage designs for
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pat ...
.
Later work
In 1930, de Chirico met his second wife, Isabella Pakszwer Far (1909–1990), a Russian, with whom he would remain for the rest of his life. Together they moved to Italy in 1932 and to the US in 1936,
finally settling in Rome in 1944. In 1948 he bought a house near the
Spanish Steps; now the
Giorgio de Chirico House Museum
The Giorgio de Chirico House Museum (''Casa Museo di Giorgio de Chirico'') is a house museum in the 16th century Palazzetto del Borgognoni at Piazza di Spagna 31 in Rome. The house was acquired by Giorgio de Chirico in 1948. It was left to th ...
, a museum dedicated to his work.
In 1939, he adopted a neo-
Baroque style influenced by
Rubens.
De Chirico's later paintings never received the same critical praise as did those from his metaphysical period. He resented this, as he thought his later work was better and more mature. He nevertheless produced backdated "self-forgeries" both to profit from his earlier success, and as an act of revenge—retribution for the critical preference for his early work. He also denounced many paintings attributed to him in public and private collections as forgeries. In 1945, he published his memoirs.
He remained extremely prolific even as he approached his 90th year. During the 1960s,
Massimiliano Fuksas
Massimiliano Fuksas (born January 9, 1944) is an Italian architect. He is the head of ''Studio Fuksas'' in partnership with his wife, Doriana Mandrelli Fuksas, with offices in Rome, Paris and Shenzhen.
Biography
Fuksas was born in Rome in 194 ...
worked in his atelier. In 1974 de Chirico was elected to the
French Académie des Beaux-Arts. He died in Rome on 20 November 1978. In 1992 his remains were moved to the Roman church of
San Francesco a Ripa.
Style
De Chirico's best-known works are the paintings of his metaphysical period. In them he developed a repertoire of motifs—empty arcades, towers, elongated shadows, mannequins, and trains among others—that he arranged to create "images of forlornness and emptiness" that paradoxically also convey a feeling of "power and freedom". According to Sanford Schwartz, de Chirico—whose father was a railroad engineer—painted images that suggest "the way you take in buildings and vistas from the perspective of a train window. His towers, walls, and plazas seem to flash by, and you are made to feel the power that comes from seeing things that way: you feel you know them more intimately than the people do who live with them day by day."
In 1982,
Robert Hughes wrote that de Chirico
In this, he resembles his more representational American contemporary,
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realism, American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolor painting, watercolorist and printmaker in e ...
: their pictures' low sunlight, their deep and often irrational shadows, their empty walkways and portentous silences creating an enigmatic visual poetry.
Legacy
De Chirico won praise for his work almost immediately from the writer
Guillaume Apollinaire, who helped to introduce his work to the later Surrealists. De Chirico strongly influenced the Surrealist movement:
Yves Tanguy wrote how one day in 1922 he saw one of de Chirico's paintings in an art dealer's window, and was so impressed by it he resolved on the spot to become an artist—although he had never even held a brush. Other Surrealists who acknowledged de Chirico's influence include
Max Ernst,
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...
, and
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...
, who described his first sighting of de Chirico's ''The Song of Love'' as "one of the most moving moments of my life: my eyes ''saw'' thought for the first time." Other artists as diverse as
Giorgio Morandi,
Carlo Carrà,
Paul Delvaux,
Carel Willink,
Harue Koga
was a Japanese avant-garde painter active from the 1910s to the early 1930s. He is considered to be one of the first and one of the most representative Japanese surrealist painters.
Early life
Harue Koga was born Yoshio Koga in 1895 to parents ...
,
Philip Guston,
Andy Warhol and
Mark Kostabi were influenced by de Chirico.
De Chirico's style has influenced several filmmakers, particularly in the 1950s through 1970s. The visual style of the French animated film ''
Le Roi et l'oiseau'', by
Paul Grimault and
Jacques Prévert, was influenced by de Chirico's work, primarily via Tanguy, a friend of Prévert.
[Quelques propositions d’activités – ''Le roi et l'oiseau''](_blank)
, Paola Martini et Pascale Ramel, p. 4 The visual style of
Valerio Zurlini
Valerio Zurlini (19 March 1926 – 26 October 1982) was an Italian film director, stage director and screenwriter.
Biography
During his law studies in Rome, he started working in the theatre. In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance. Zurlin ...
's film ''
The Desert of the Tartars'' (1976) was influenced by de Chirico's work.
Michelangelo Antonioni, the Italian film director, also said he was influenced by de Chirico. Some comparison can be made to the long takes in Antonioni's films from the 1960s, in which the camera continues to linger on desolate cityscapes populated by a few distant figures, or none at all, in the absence of the film's protagonists.
In 1958,
Riverside Records used a reproduction of de Chirico's 1915 painting ''The Seer'' (originally painted as a tribute to French poet
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...
) as the cover art for pianist
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...
's live album ''
Misterioso''. The choice was made to capitalize on Monk's popularity with intellectual and bohemian fans from venues such as the
Five Spot Café, where the album had been recorded, but Monk biographer
Robin Kelley later observed deeper connections between the painting and the pianist's music; Rimbaud had "called on the artist to be a seer in order to plumb the depths of the unconscious in the quest for clairvoyance ... The one-eyed figure represented the visionary. The architectural forms and the placement of the chalkboard evoked the unity of art and science—a perfect symbol for an artist whose music has been called 'mathematical.'"
Writers who have appreciated de Chirico include
John Ashbery, who has called ''
Hebdomeros
''Hebdomeros'' is a 1929 book (referred to by some as a novel) by Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico. Chirico did not produce any other long-form writing. The book is narrated in the third person and loosely concerns the movement of a man, Hebdo ...
'' "probably ... the finest
ajor work of Surrealist fiction" Several of
Sylvia Plath's poems are influenced by de Chirico. In his book ''Blizzard of One''
Mark Strand included a poetic diptych called "Two de Chiricos": "The Philosopher's Conquest" and "The Disquieting Muses".
Gabriele Tinti composed three poems inspired by de Chirico's paintings: ''The Nostalgia of the Poet'' (1914), ''The Uncertainty of the Poet'' (1913), and ''Ariadne'' (1913), works in the
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
, respectively. The poems were read by actor
Burt Young at the
Met in 2016.
The box art for
Fumito Ueda's
PlayStation 2 game ''
Ico'' sold in Japan and Europe was strongly influenced by de Chirico.
The cover art of
New Order's single "
Thieves Like Us" is based on de Chirico's painting ''The Evil Genius of a King''.
The music video for the
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
song "
Loving the Alien" was partly influenced by de Chirico. Bowie was an admirer of his genderless tailors' dummies.
Honours
* 1958: Member of the
Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, sometimes referred to as ') is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Com ...
.
* Académie de France
Selected works
*''Flight of the Centauri'', ''Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon'' and ''Enigma of the Oracle'' (1909)
*''Ritratto di Andrea de Chirico'' (Alias
Alberto Savinio) (1909–1910)
*''
The Enigma of the Hour
''The Enigma of the Hour'' is a painting by the Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian
artist and writer born in Greece. In the ...
'' (1911)
*''
The Nostalgia of the Infinite'' (1911), or 1912–1913
*''Melanconia'', ''The Enigma of the Arrival'' and ''La Matinée Angoissante'' (1912)
*''
The Soothsayers Recompense
''The Soothsayer's Recompense'' is a 1913 painting by Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico. It is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the permanent collection. It was accessioned in 1950 as one of the thousand items donated to the ins ...
'', ''The Red Tower'', ''Ariadne'', ''The Awakening of Ariadne'', ''The Uncertainty of the Poet'', ''La Statua Silenziosa'', ''The Anxious Journey'', ''Melancholy of a Beautiful Day'', ''
Le Rêve Transformé
''Le Rêve Transformé'' () is a 1913 painting by the Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian
artist and writer born in Greece. ...
'', and ''Self-Portrait'' (1913)
*''The Anguish of Departure'' (begun in 1913), ''Portrait of
Guillaume Apollinaire'', ''The Nostalgia of the Poet'', ''L'Énigme de la fatalité'', ''
Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure)
''Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure)'' (Italian: ''La stazione di Montparnasse)'' (1914) is a painting by the Italy, Italian Metaphysical art, metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico. Many of de Chirico's works were inspired by the i ...
'', ''
The Song of Love'', ''The Enigma of a Day'', ''The Philosopher's Conquest'', ''The Child's Brain'', ''The Philosopher and the Poet'', ''Still Life: Turin in Spring'', ''Piazza d'Italia (Autumn Melancholy)'', and ''Melancholy and Mystery of a Street'' (1914)
*''The Evil Genius of a King'' (begun in 1914), ''The Seer'' (or ''The Prophet''), ''Piazza d’Italia'', ''
The Double Dream of Spring
''The Double Dream of Spring'' (also known as ''Doppio Sogno di Primavera'', 1915) is a painting by the Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico.
The painting depicts apparently related but separate scenes. The scene on the left shows a ...
'', ''The Purity of a Dream'', ''Two Sisters (The Jewish Angel)'' and ''The Duo'' (1915)
*''Andromache'', ''
The Melancholy of Departure
''The Melancholy of Departure'' ( it, Melanconia della partenza, link=no) is a 1916 painting by the Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico. This painting was created after Chirico returned to Italy from Paris to join the Italian Army ...
'', ''
The Disquieting Muses
''The Disquieting Muses'' (in it, Le Muse inquietanti, 1916, 1917 or 1918) is a painting by the Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico.
''The Disquieting Muses'' was painted during World War I, when De Chirico was in Ferrara. The C ...
'', ''
Metaphysical Interior with Biscuits
''Metaphysical Interior with Biscuits'' ( it, Interno metafisico con biscotti, link=no) is a 1916 painting by Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1 ...
'' (1916)
*''
Metaphysical Interior with Large Factory'' and ''The Faithful Servitor'' (both began in 1916), ''The Great Metaphysician'', ''Ettore e Andromaca'', ''Metaphysical Interior'', ''Geometric Composition with Landscape and Factory'' and ''Great Metaphysical Interior'' (1917)
*''Metaphysical Muses'' and ''Hermetic Melancholy'' (1918)
*''Still Life with Salami'' and ''The Sacred Fish'' (1919)
*''Self-portrait'' (1920)
*''Italian Piazza'', ''Maschere'' and ''Departure of the Argonauts'' (1921)
*''
The Great Tower
''The Great Tower'' ( it, La grande torre, link=no) is a 1921 painting by the Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico, now in the Pushkin Museum. The Russian Ministry of Culture acquired it in 1992 for the National Centre for Contemporary Arts
The Na ...
'' (1921)
*''The Prodigal Son'' (1922)
*''Florentine Still Life'' (c. 1923)
*''The House with the Green Shutters'' (1924)
*''The Great Machine'' (1925)
Honolulu Museum of Art
*''Au Bord de la Mer'', ''Le Grand Automate'', ''The Terrible Games'', ''Mannequins on the Seashore'' and ''The Painter'' (1925)
*''La Commedia e la Tragedia'' (''Commedia Romana''), ''The Painter's Family'' and ''Cupboards in a Valley'' (1926)
*''L’Esprit de Domination'', ''The Eventuality of Destiny (Monumental Figures)'', ''Mobili nella valle'' and ''The Archaeologists'' (1927)
*''Temple et Forêt dans la Chambre'' (1928)
*''Gladiatori (began in 1927)'', ''The Archaeologists IV (from the series Metamorphosis)'', ''The return of the Prodigal son I (from the series Metamorphosis)'' and ''Bagnante (Ritratto di Raissa)'' (1929)
*''I fuochi sacri'' (for the ''Calligrammes'') 1929
*Illustrations from the book ''Calligrammes'' by
Guillaume Apollinaire (1930)
*''I Gladiatori (Combattimento)'' (1931)
*''Milan Cathedral'', 1932
*''Cavalos a Beira-Mar'' (1932–1933)
*''Cavalli in Riva al Mare'' (1934)
*''La Vasca di Bagni Misteriosi'' (1936)
*''The Vexations of The Thinker'' (1937)
*''Self-portrait'' (1935–1937)
*''Archeologi'' (1940)
*Illustrations from the book ''L’Apocalisse'' (1941)
*''Portrait of
Clarice Lispector
Clarice Lispector (born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector ( uk, Хая Пінкасівна Ліспектор); December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her innovative, idiosyncratic works e ...
'' (1945)
*''Villa Medici – Temple and Statue'' (1945)
*''Minerva'' (1947)
*''Metaphysical Interior with Workshop'' (1948)
*''
Venecia, Puente de Rialto''
*''Fiat'' (1950)
*''Piazza d'Italia'' (1952)
*''The Fall – Via Crucis'' (1947–54)
*''Venezia, Isola di San Giorgio'' (1955)
*''Salambò su un cavallo impennato'' (1956)
*''Metaphysical Interior with Biscuits'' (1958)
*''Piazza d'Italia'' (1962)
*''Cornipedes'', (1963)
*''La mia mano sinistra'', (1963),
Chianciano Museum of Art
The Museo d'Arte di Chianciano Terme is a private art museum in Chianciano Terme, in Tuscany in central Italy. Its collections range from contemporary to Asian art. The museum was founded Roberto Gagliardi in 2009. It houses about 1000 works and o ...
*''Manichino'' (1964)
*''Ettore e Andromaca'' (1966)
*''The Return of Ulysses'', ''Interno Metafisico con Nudo Anatomico'' and ''Mysterious Baths – Flight Toward the Sea'' (1968)
*''Il rimorso di Oreste'', ''La Biga Invincibile'' and ''Solitudine della Gente di Circo'' (1969)
*''Orfeo Trovatore Stanco'', ''Intero Metafisico'' and ''Muse with Broken Column'' (1970)
*''Metaphysical Interior with Setting Sun'' (1971)
*''Sole sul cavalletto'' (1973)
*''Mobili e rocce in una stanza'', ''La Mattina ai Bagni misteriosi'', ''Piazza d'Italia con Statua Equestre'', ''La mattina ai bagni misteriosi'' and ''Ettore e Andromaca'' (1973)
*''Pianto d'amore – Ettore e Andromaca'' and ''The Sailors' Barracks'' (1974)
Writings
*''
Hebdomeros
''Hebdomeros'' is a 1929 book (referred to by some as a novel) by Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico. Chirico did not produce any other long-form writing. The book is narrated in the third person and loosely concerns the movement of a man, Hebdo ...
'' (1929)
*''The Memoirs of Giorgio De Chirico'', trans. Margaret Crosland (Da Capo Press 1994)
*''Geometry of Shadows'' (poems), trans. Stefania Heim (Public Space Books 2019)
Films about
* ''Aenigma Est'' (1990) – Director: Dimitri Mavrikios; Screenplay: Thomas Moschopoulos, Dimitri Mavrikios
* ''
Giorgio de Chirico: Argonaut of the Soul'' (2010) – documentary film: Directors and screenplay: Kostas Anestis and George Lagdaris
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
* Baldacci, Paolo & Fagiolo Dell’Arco, Maurizio (1982), ''Giorgio de Chirico Parigi 1924–1930'', Galleria Philippe Daverio, Milano
* Brandani, Edoardo (a cura di), Di Genova, Giorgio, Bonfiglioli, Patrizia (1999), ''Giorgio de Chirico, catalogo dell'opera grafica 1969–1977'', Edizioni Bora, Bologna
* Bruni, C., ''Cat. generale di opere di Giorgio de Chirico'', Milano 1971–74
* Ciranna, A., ''Giorgio de Chirico. Cat. delle opere grafiche 1921 a 1969'', Milano, 1969
* Calvesi, Maurizio, & Mori, Gioia (2007), ''De Chirico'', Giunti Editore, Firenze, 1988
* ''de Chirico, gli anni Venti'', curated by Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco, exhibition catalogue, Galleria dello Scudo, Verona, 1986-1987; Mazzotta, Milan, 1986
* Fagiolo Dell’Arco, Maurizio (1999), ''L'opera completa di de Chirico 1908–1924'', Rizzoli, Milano, 1984
* Fagiolo Dell’Arco, Maurizio (1991), ''Giorgio de Chirico carte'', Extra Moenia Arte Moderna, Todi
* Fagiolo Dell’Arco, Maurizio, & Cavallo, Luigi (1985), ''De Chirico. Disegni inediti (1929)'', Edizioni grafiche Tega, Milano
* Gimferrer, Pere (1988), ''De Chirico, 1888–1978, opere scelte'', Rizzoli, Milano
* ''de Chirico, gli anni Trenta'', curated by Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco, exhibition catalogue, Galleria dello Scudo and Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, 1998-1999; Mazzotta, Milan, 1998
* Merjian, Ara H. (2014) ''Giorgio de Chirico and the Metaphysical City: Nietzsche, Modernism'', Paris, New Haven (Yale University Press), 2014
* Mori, Gioia (2007), ''De Chirico metafisico'', Giunti, Firenze
* Noel-Johnson Victoria
''Giorgio de Chirico and the United Kingdom (c. 1916–1978)'' Maretti Editore, Falciano, 2017. .
* Noel-Johnson Victoria, ''Giorgio de Chirico: The Changing Face of Metaphysical Art'', Skira, Milano, 2019.
* Noel-Johnson Victoria
''De Chirico's Formation in Florence (1910–1911): The Discovery of the B.N.C.F Library Registers'', (''Metaphysical Art Journal'', n. 11–13), Maretti Editore, Falciano, 2014.
* Owen, Maurice (1983
* Owen, Maurice (1995
* Pontiggia, Elena, & Gazzaneo, Giovanni (2012), ''Giorgio de Chirico. L’Apocalisse e la luce'', Silvana Editoriale, Cinisellobalsamo
* Soby, J. Th., ''Giorgio de Chirico'', New York, 1955
* Schmied, W., ''Giorgio de Chirico, Catalogue personale'', Milano, 1970
External links
Metaphysical Art ArchiveGiorgio de Chirico at MoMA biography and image gallery
Chiricoat fondazionedechirico.org
"Il rapporto tra Giorgio de Chirico e l`Inghilterra". Rai Scuola
by Giorgio de Chirico in English translation
"REVOLUTIONARY ABSENCE: Giorgio de Chirico and the early Situationist International" by Ara H. Merjianfrom Issue 67 of ''
Cabinet Magazine'' (2019-20)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chirico, Giorgio
1888 births
1978 deaths
20th-century Italian painters
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni
Ballet designers
Italian expatriates in Greece
Italian male painters
Greek artists
20th-century Greek painters
Greek male painters
Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium
People from Volos
People of Ligurian descent
People of Sicilian descent
School of Paris
Surrealist artists
Italian surrealist artists
Greek surrealist artists
Sibling artists
Writers from Volos