Giorgio de Chirico

Italian, born in Greece, 1888–1978

BiographyGiorgio de Chirico, the originator of metaphysical painting, was born in Vólos, Greece, in 1888. He was a pupil at the Akademie der Bildende Künste in Munich from 1906 to 1910, and was profoundly influenced by the bizarre juxtapositions of the commonplace and fantastic in the works of Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) and Max Klinger. Around 1910, de Chirico produced his first "enigmatic" pictures, in which an uneasy atmosphere and feeling of disjuncture is enhanced by deep, oppressive, empty spaces. In 1911 de Chirico moved to Paris, where the influential poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) was instrumental in introducing him to leading modernists like Picasso, André Derain, and Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957). De Chirico was drafted into the Italian army in 1915, but suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to the military hospital at Ferrara in 1917. There he met the Futurist painter Carlo Carr (1881-1966), whom he converted to metaphysical painting.

De Chirico's theoretical writings of 1910-20 stress the importance of time and memory in the creation of art, seeking renewal in the use (rather than the rejection) of history. An historical element permeates his entire oeuvre, from the metaphysical paintings of 1910-20 to the neoclassicist constructs of the 1920s, and his many copies and interpretations of old masters. De Chirico returned to Paris in 1924, where his work was especially influential for the Surrealists. In Italy during the 1940s, de Chirico turned to more conservative subject matter, and toward the end of the decade affected a lush, painterly, neo-baroque style influenced in part by his study of old masters. His reuse of earlier styles and motifs in paintings of the 1940s and later (including copies of some of his most famous works) was roundly criticized, as it was felt to be deceptive chronologically, and hence in terms of value. The artist defended himself by declaring that both the concept and execution of the works were his own, and the date of execution therefore immaterial.8 De Chirico worked in a variety of media well into old age, producing theater designs, illustrations and color lithographs, and sculpture, in addition to paintings.