De Chirico Giorgio

Giorgio de Chirico was born on 10th July 1888 in Volos, Thessaly, to an Italian family of noble descent. His father, Evaristo de Chirico, a railway engineer from Palermo, was among the key figures in the construction of the first railway networks in Bulgaria and Greece. His mother, Gemma Cervetto, a Genoese baroness born in Istanbul, added to a family milieu already steeped in a restless and slightly decadent cosmopolitanism that would permeate the entire oeuvre of the future master of metaphysical art.

The childhood spent between Volos and Athens profoundly marked the young Giorgio: he learned Greek, absorbed the classical myth, and developed that Mediterranean sense of melancholy that would become one of the defining features of his art. In 1891, his elder sister Adelaide passed away; shortly thereafter, his brother Andrea was born, destined to become Alberto Savinio, an eclectic figure as a musician, writer, and painter.

In 1906, following the death of his father, the family moved to Italy. Giorgio visited Milan and settled in Florence, where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1907, he enrolled at the Academy of Munich: here he discovered the symbolist art of Arnold Böcklin and, particularly, Max Klinger, which had a decisive influence on him. The dreamlike atmospheres, solemn architectures, and sense of mystery characteristic of these artists became the seeds of his future metaphysical painting.

Upon returning to Italy, he settled in Milan and then in Florence. It was in the Tuscan city, during the autumn of 1910, that the famous "revelation" occurred: while strolling in Piazza Santa Croce, de Chirico experienced a sort of ecstatic vision that inspired The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon, the first true metaphysical work. From that moment, his personal universe was born: deserted squares illuminated by an unreal light, infinite arches, distant trains, enigmatic statues, and faceless mannequins.

From 1911 to 1915, he lived in Paris, where he joined his brother Alberto. He associated with Guillaume Apollinaire (who coined the term "metaphysical painting"), Max Jacob, Pablo Picasso, and the avant-garde milieu. These were extraordinarily fruitful years: he participated in the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants, created some of his most iconic works, and consolidated his international reputation, although economic success remained modest.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Giorgio and Alberto volunteered and were sent to Ferrara. Here, de Chirico experienced one of the most intense and productive periods of his life. The city, with its Renaissance palaces, silent squares, and an atmosphere suspended between past and present, became an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him. He no longer painted only sun-drenched great squares but still lifes populated by incongruous objects: cookies, gloves, maps, eggs, cannons, and mannequins. He mingled with the Ferrara group, forged friendships with Carlo Carrà and Filippo de Pisis, and experienced a passionate relationship with the young woman from Ferrara, Antonia Bolognesi.

After the war, de Chirico entered a complex phase of maturity. He participated in the Venice Biennale (1924 and 1932) and the Rome Quadriennale (1935). In 1936-37, he moved to New York, where he successfully exhibited at the Julien Levy Gallery, collaborated with Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and worked as an interior decorator, even creating a dining room in collaboration with Picasso and Matisse.

In the 1950s and 1960s, his painting was characterised by self-portraits in baroque costume, views of Venice, and virtuoso still lifes. He continued to paint, alternating works of clear metaphysical inspiration with pieces of a more classical and traditional structure. He was also a writer: his novel Hebdomeros (1929) is a dreamlike text, lacking a linear plot, which perfectly reflects his painterly world made of dreams, memories, and hypnagogic suggestions.

He passed away in Rome on 20th November 1978, after a lengthy illness, in his home-studio in Piazza di Spagna. He was buried in the Church of San Francesco a Ripa, in the chapel of the venerable Antonino Natoli, with three of his works donated by his widow Isabella Pakszwer Far, a devoted companion in his later years.

Methodology and Artistic Vision

De Chirico is universally recognised as the founder of metaphysical painting. His works from the period between 1910 and 1920 are characterised by an absolute sense of estrangement: empty squares, classical architectures bathed in unnatural light, long shadows, and faceless statues and mannequins. Everyday objects are decontextualised and placed in unreal contexts, creating an effect of mystery and existential unease.

Influenced by Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Greek philosophy, de Chirico sought not to represent visible reality, but to reveal “the enigma of common things.” His art endeavours to capture what lies behind appearance: the eternal, unsettling, and metaphysical side of existence.

In the subsequent years, he periodically returned to metaphysical themes while cultivating an increasingly classicist and baroque style. He was also an engraver, set designer, and a writer of considerable talent. His ability to navigate between avant-garde and tradition, between radical innovation and a return to antiquity, rendered him one of the most complex, controversial, and fascinating figures in 20th-century art.