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 one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His best-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. P ...

s, trains, and illogical perspective. His imagery reflects his affinity for the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer 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 ...

, and for the mythology of his birthplace. After 1919, he became a critic of modern art, studied traditional painting techniques, and later worked in a neoclassical or neo- Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work. In 2018 it was suggested that de Chirico may have suffered from

Alice in Wonderland syndrome Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS), also known as Todd's syndrome or dysmetropsia, is a neuropsychological condition that causes a distortion of perception. People may experience distortions in visual perception of objects, such as appearing sma ...

Life and works

Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico was born in

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

, 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 knig ...

of Genoese-

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

origins (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'' of

origin (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 in 1523 together with 4,000 other

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

families).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. 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 The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; el, Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο, ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest higher education institution ...

— mainly under the guidance of the Greek painters

Georgios Roilos Georgios Roilos ( el, Γεώργιος Ροϊλός; 1867 – 28 August 1928) was one of the most important and influential Greek painters of the late 19th-early 20th century. He belonged to the so-called "Munich School". His major works include h ...

and

Georgios Jakobides Georgios Jakobides (Γεώργιος Ιακωβίδης; 11 January 1853 – 13 December 1932) was a painter and one of the main representatives of the Greek artistic movement of the Munich School. He founded and was the first curator of the Nati ...

. 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 The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

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 Gabriel (von) Hackl (24 March 1843 – 5 June 1926) was a German historicism (art), historicist painter. Life and work He was born in Maribor, Lower Styria, Austrian Empire. A surgeon's son, he attended the gymnasium (school), gymnasium in his ...

and Carl von Marr and read the writings of the philosophers

, Arthur Schopenhauer and

Otto Weininger Otto Weininger (; 3 April 1880 – 4 October 1903) was an Austrian philosopher who lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1903, he published the book ''Geschlecht und Charakter'' (''Sex and Character''), which gained popularity after his suici ...

. There, he also studied the works of Arnold Böcklin 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 with 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 B ...

. 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. The ...

, 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

-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 Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, 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 Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

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 Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...

, and he sold his first painting, ''The Red Tower''. His time in Paris also resulted in the production of de Chirico's ''Ariadne''. In 1914, through Apollinaire, he met the art dealer

Paul Guillaume Paul Guillaume (1891 in Paris – 1934 in Paris) was a French art dealer. Dealer of Chaïm Soutine and Amedeo Modigliani, he was one of the first to organize African art exhibitions. He also bought and sold many works from cutting-edge artists of ...

, 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 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 ''Valori plastici'' (meaning ''Plastic Values'' in English) was an Italian magazine published in Rome in Italian and French. The magazines existed between 1918 and 1921. History and profile ''Valori plastici'' was established in Rome by the paint ...

'' 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 a ...

and Signorelli, and became part of the post-war

return to order The return to order (French: ''retour à l'ordre'') was a European art movement that followed the First World War, rejecting the extreme avant-garde art of the years up to 1918 and taking its inspiration from classical art instead. The movement w ...

in the arts. He became an outspoken opponent of modern art. In the early 1920s, the Surrealist writer André Breton 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, pa ...

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 The Spanish Steps ( it, Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. The monumental stairwa ...

; now the Giorgio de Chirico House Museum, a museum dedicated to his work. In 1939, he adopted a neo- Baroque style influenced by Rubens. This artistic phase, which lasted until the late 60s, is sometimes referred to as the 'Baroque season'. During this time, de Chirico draws inspiration from artists such as

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...

, Dürer,

, Delacroix and

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

. The artist, far from willing to achieve

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

in his paintings, strives to create images charged with myths and visions, for an art that is still literally "metaphysical", beyond reality. During these years, De Chirico also studied and rediscovered the painting techniques adopted by old masters, such as Titian: "So I started doing copies of the old masters. In Rome… in Florence… and then I also got interested in their techniques, I consulted numerous treatises on painting, both ancient and modern." 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 San Francesco a Ripa is a church in Rome, Italy. It is dedicated to Francis of Assisi who once stayed at the adjacent convent. The term ''Ripa'' refers to the nearby riverbank of the Tiber. History The origins of this church are related to a Fr ...

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 realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

: their pictures' low sunlight, their deep and often irrational shadows, their empty walkways and portentous silences creating an enigmatic visual poetry.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome

A 2018 study by researchers from the Magna Græcia University suggested that de Chirico suffered from

(AIWS), a neurological disorder affecting a person's

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

, leading the individual to perceive the sizes of some parts of their body and other objects, in an unreal way, like Alice in

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

's novel. De Chirico was unaware of his condition, although in ''Memoirs of my Life'', he writes of suffering from abdominal pain and speaks of "colic saturnine", referring to a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

theory according to which genes are born under the sign of Saturn. Moreover, in a short piece dedicated to Carlo Carrà, he recounts the experience of headache through a

lucid dream A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment; however, this is ...

: "I sleep. I'm wearing a diver's helmet. The throbbing of my brain splits into many bubbles on the lacquered platform of my seventh ceiling." Accounts of migraine symptoms, found in de Chirico's writings were the following: headache, nausea,

photophobia Photophobia is a medical symptom of abnormal intolerance to visual perception of light. As a medical symptom photophobia is not a morbid fear or phobia, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure or by presence of ...

, abdominal pain as autonomic symptoms,

scotoma A scotoma is an area of partial alteration in the field of vision consisting of a partially diminished or entirely degenerated visual acuity that is surrounded by a field of normal – or relatively well-preserved – vision. Every normal mam ...

(visual field stain), visual and

gustatory hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...

s (described as "spiritual fevers)"), autokinesis (apparent movement of fixed objects), recurrent dreams,

macropsia Macropsia is a neurological condition affecting human visual perception, in which objects within an affected section of the visual field appear larger than normal, causing the person to feel smaller than they actually are. Macropsia, along with its ...

micropsia Micropsia is a condition affecting human visual perception in which objects are perceived to be smaller than they actually are. Micropsia can be caused by optical factors (such as wearing glasses), by distortion of images in the eye (such as optica ...

s (seeing objects larger or smaller than normal), teleopsias (see objects as very far away), depersonalization syndrome, déjà vu, or jamais vu phenomena. De Chirico's autobiography and essays, as well as his first metaphysical painting, for example ''The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon'' (1909), are evidence that migraine Aura (symptom), visual aura phenomena, associated with Déjà vu, paramnesias (jamais and déjà vu) could be interpreted as the start of the painter's creative process. Suggestive elements of de Chirico's metaphysical works are the immense squares without human presence, where bizarre elements emerge such as mannequins, marble busts and classic columns. It has been suggested that these paintings reveal a sense of loneliness and restlessness, as if one lived in a strange dream. In his painting ''Piazza d'Italia'' there is a long perspective where some people are very small compared to tall colonnaded buildings, while the mannequins have an oval shaped head, without eyes, ears, mouth, representing a visual depersonalization. It has also been suggested that de Chirico suffered from a personality disorder with narcissistic and paranoid traits and had suffered from somatization disorders, in the period between 1909 and 1918.

Legacy

De Chirico won praise for his work almost immediately from the writer

, 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, and René Magritte, 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, 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''
, Paola Martini et Pascale Ramel, p. 4 The visual style of Valerio Zurlini'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) as the cover art for pianist Thelonious Monk's live album ''Misterioso (Thelonious Monk 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'' "probably ... the finest [major 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 (writer), 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, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, respectively. The poems were read by actor Burt Young at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 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 (band), New Order's single "Thieves Like Us (song), Thieves Like Us" is based on de Chirico's painting ''The Evil Genius of a King''. The music video for the David Bowie 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. * 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'' (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 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'', and ''Self-Portrait'' (1913) *''The Anguish of Departure'' (begun in 1913), ''Portrait of

'', ''The Nostalgia of the Poet'', ''L'Énigme de la fatalité'', ''Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure)'', ''Love Song (Giorgio de Chirico), 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 Purity of a Dream'', ''Two Sisters (The Jewish Angel)'' and ''The Duo'' (1915) *''Andromache'', ''The Melancholy of Departure'', ''The Disquieting Muses'', ''Metaphysical Interior with Biscuits'' (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'' (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

(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'' (1945) *''Villa Medici – Temple and Statue'' (1945) *''Minerva'' (1947) *''Metaphysical Interior with Workshop'' (1948) *''Venecia, Puente de Rialto (Giorgio de Chirico), 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 *''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'' (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 * *

External links

Metaphysical Art Archive

Giorgio de Chirico at MoMA
biography and image gallery
Chirico
at 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. Merjian
from Issue 67 of ''Cabinet Magazine'' (2019-20) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chirico, Giorgio de Giorgio de Chirico, 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