Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico – Life, Artistic Journey, and Profound Vision
Explore the life and legacy of Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978), the painter who founded Metaphysical art. Delve into his biography, major works, artistic philosophy, and influence on Surrealism and modern art.
Introduction
Giorgio de Chirico (10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) is one of the seminal figures in 20th-century art, renowned for founding the Metaphysical art movement (scuola metafisica). Though born in Greece to Italian parents, de Chirico worked mostly in Italy and France, and his haunting imagery of empty cityscapes, elongated shadows, mannequins, arcades, and trains exerted a strong influence on the Surrealists and many subsequent artists.
His work evokes a profound sense of enigma, melancholy, and estrangement: familiar architectural spaces transformed into uncanny realms. In later years he shifted stylistically toward classical and neo-Baroque modes, a transition that remains controversial among art historians.
Below is an in-depth exploration of his life, work, ideas, and legacy.
Early Life and Family
Giorgio de Chirico was born Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico on 10 July 1888 in Volos, Greece, to Italian parents.
His father, Evaristo de Chirico, was an engineer working on Greek railway construction; his mother, Gemma Cervetto, came from a noble Genoese family.
Because of his father’s engineering role, the family lived in Greece at the time of his birth. Later, after Evaristo’s death in 1905, the family relocated.
Giorgio’s younger brother, Andrea Francesco Alberto, later became known under the pseudonym Alberto Savinio and was himself an artist, writer, and composer.
Education and Artistic Formation
From an early age, de Chirico was exposed to a blend of classical, architectural, engineering, and cultural sensibilities.
-
In Athens, he studied drawing and furthered his early art training.
-
Around 1906, he moved to Munich, entering the Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Gabriel von Hackl and Carl von Marr. There he encountered German Romanticism, symbolism, and the writings of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and others.
-
After Munich, he traveled in Italy (Florence, Milan) and then settled in Paris by 1912.
His early influences included the symbolist painters Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger, whose blend of dream and allegory left a mark on his developing style.
Career and Artistic Phases
Metaphysical Period (c. 1909 – 1919)
This is the most celebrated and influential phase of de Chirico’s career. During this time he developed the motifs and moods that would define Metaphysical art:
-
Painted empty city squares, long arcades, towers, deep shadows, mannequins, trains, statues, and enigmatic juxtapositions.
-
Early metaphysical works include The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon, The Enigma of the Oracle, The Nostalgia of the Infinite, Melancholy of a Beautiful Day, Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure), The Song of Love, and more.
-
He often wrote about the “metaphysical aspect” he sensed in architecture and memory, seeking to convert everyday scenes into uncanny, dreamlike visions.
-
His images convey a paradox: a silence, emptiness, and stillness — but also an inner tension, suggestion of time, absence, or hidden presence.
-
In 1915 during World War I, de Chirico returned to Italy and was stationed in Ferrara, where he painted interior scenes combining maps, biscuits, instruments, mannequins.
-
In collaboration with Carlo Carrà, he helped establish pittura metafisica (Metaphysical Painting).
At the end of this period (around 1919), de Chirico publicly announced a shift: in his 1919 article “The Return of Craftsmanship”, he declared his departure from avant-garde experiment toward more classical modes.
Later Work: Classicism, Neo-Baroque, and Controversy
Post-1919, de Chirico’s style underwent major change:
-
He turned to more traditional techniques, craft, and imagery drawn from Italian Renaissance, classical mythology, and academic painting.
-
His reputation among avant-garde circles suffered; Surrealists in particular criticized or distanced themselves from his later work.
-
He was prolific, engaging in writing (essays, poetry, novels, criticism), stage design, and revisiting metaphysical themes in new forms.
-
In later decades, he sometimes created works that imitated his earlier metaphysical style or even backdated creations—leading to debates and accusations of self-forgery or manipulation of his own market.
-
He remained active into old age. In 1974 he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts (France).
-
There is a museum at his former house near the Spanish Steps in Rome dedicated to his life and work.
He died in Rome on 20 November 1978 at age 90.
Artistic Style, Philosophy & Key Motifs
Metaphysical Aesthetics
De Chirico’s metaphysical period is unique for how it combines architectural realism with psychological mystery:
-
Architectural elements (arcades, piazzas, colonnades, towers) play a central role, not just as setting but as symbolic and psychological actors in his compositions.
-
His play with perspective is often illogical or exaggerated, heightening disjunction between foreground and background and unsettling the viewer’s sense of depth.
-
Shadows are elongated, angular, and dramatic: they act as visual vehicles of time, mystery, and emptiness.
-
The use of mannequin-figures or faceless statues, often inert or frozen, evokes anonymity, absence, even existential loneliness.
-
Objects like clocks, trains, tools, maps, compasses, and architectural fragments appear in his works with symbolic weight — they challenge interpretation and invite reflection on time, memory, and the uncanny.
Philosophically, de Chirico drew on existential and metaphysical ideas (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer) to suggest that behind the visible world lies a hidden, haunting dimension.
Later Style & Return to Classical Themes
In his later phases, his painting drew more directly from classical, mythological, and Renaissance sources:
-
He embraced a neo-Baroque / classical revival aesthetic, with more conventional figure work, mythic subjects, and narrative elements.
-
His later works sometimes revisit metaphysical motifs (arcades, statues) but within a more controlled and conventional structure.
-
The tension between his early experimental daring and his later traditionalism continues to provoke debate among critics and scholars.
Legacy and Influence
Giorgio de Chirico’s influence extends widely across 20th-century art, literature, film, and visual culture:
-
His metaphysical works deeply influenced the Surrealists — André Breton admired his paintings; Salvador Dalí described seeing de Chirico’s The Song of Love as transformative.
-
Artists such as René Magritte, Max Ernst, and others cited de Chirico’s imagery and moods as foundational.
-
His theatrical, uncanny spatial language has resonated in film and stage design. Some cinematographers and directors cite de Chirico’s empty plazas, perspectives, and atmospheres as precursors to cinematic mise-en-scène.
-
His writings (essays, poetry, memoirs, novels) are part of his legacy: de Chirico was also a prolific intellectual.
-
Museums and collectors worldwide prize his metaphysical works.
-
His later years’ controversies (self-forgeries, style reversions) continue to stimulate scholarly debate about authenticity, identity, and artistic legacy.
Famous Sayings & Aphorisms
Unlike some artists whose quotes are widely anthologized, de Chirico’s verbal legacy is more modest. Nevertheless, a few remarks and writings reflect his aesthetic outlook:
-
He once wrote, “The Roman arcade is fate … its voice speaks in riddles which are filled with a peculiarly Roman poetry.” (on his love for arcade imagery)
-
He spoke of “the metaphysical aspect” of places and things, the sense that beyond the visible lies something deeper and uncanny.
-
In his later period, he defended the return to craftsmanship and traditional technique, asserting the necessity of craft in art.
Though less quotable than many poets, his imagery often feels like visual aphorism — each painting a meditation on absence, time, and memory.
Lessons from Giorgio de Chirico
From de Chirico’s life and work, readers and artists can draw many enduring lessons:
-
Vision transcends realism
He shows how architecture, shadow, and emptiness can serve as windows into psychological and metaphysical realms. -
Form and mystery must cooperate
His success lies in balancing precise, structured forms (arches, plazas, geometry) with dissonant juxtapositions and silence — an art of deliberate tension. -
Reinvention is risky
His later retreat to classical forms and the controversies it engendered remind us that artistic evolution may alienate as much as it advances. -
The power of suggestion
Rather than over-explain, de Chirico’s art whispers — allowing viewers to participate, wonder, and reflect. -
Interdisciplinary sensibility
His engagement with philosophy, literature, architecture, and theater enriched his visual vocabulary and deepened his symbolic resonance. -
Legacy is complex
His reputation shows that influence is not only in bold early innovations but also in how later generations wrestle with, critique, and reinterpret those innovations.
Conclusion
Giorgio de Chirico remains a towering, enigmatic figure in modern art. His metaphysical period reshaped the visual vocabulary of the 20th century, bridging realism and dream, architecture and psyche, time and emptiness. While his later classical turn remains controversial, it is part of the paradox and magnetism of his career.
Exploring de Chirico is to step into an art of silence, mystery, and haunting presence. His work invites us not just to see, but to sense — to dwell in the space behind the façade and to imagine what lies beyond our everyday perceptions.