Background

Ethnicity: Giorgio de Chirico's parents were Italians. Chirico's father had Sicilian origins, and the painter's mother came from Genovese family.

Giorgio de Chirico was born on July 10, 1888 in Volos, Greece. He was a son of Evaristo Maria de Chirico, a railway engineer who took part in the construction of the Thessaly railway, and Gemma Cervetto, a noblewoman.

Giorgio had an elder sister, Adelaide, who died in 1891, and a younger brother Alberto Savinio, born the same year.

Education

From the early childhood, Giorgio de Chirico was fascinated by Greek mythology and encouraged by his parents to study art. As a young boy, he often had the intestinal troubles which could be a probable cause of his melancholic views.

Giorgio de Chirico had his first drawing lessons in Volos, Greece. In 1903, he entered the Athens School of Fine Arts where he was taught by such greek painters as Georgios Roilos and Georgios Jakobides. Chirico graduated from the institution three years later.

Then, the artist moved to Germany and became a student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich where he had learned for three years the art of Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger, and read the works of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Weininger.

Career

Giorgio de Chirico started his painting career in 1909 when he came back to Italy from Gemany. The following year he began to execute the paintings that became characteristic of his style, such as Metaphysical Town Square series, the Enigma of the Oracle and the Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon (1909). He further developed the style in Paris between 1911 and 1915, where he worked in isolation and in poor health.

The iconographic elements of de Chirico's early art, modern railways and clock towers combined with ancient architecture, are to be sought in the artist's childhood memories of Greece. The first Salon d'Automne where de Chirico presented his early works took place in 1912 at Grand Palais. It was followed by another one, Salon des Indépendants, in March 1913 where the exhibited paintings impressed much Pablo Picasso and a French poet Guillaume Apolinaire with whom de Chirico started to collaborate. It was also a period of the first canvases with the Mannequin theme.

Then, Giorgio de Chirico had non-combat military service during the World War I. He was considered unfit and was sent to hospital at Ferrara where he created his first paintings with metaphysical elements, such as the Grand Metaphysical Interior (1917) and The Seer (1915). In the hospital, the artist met the painter Carlo Carrà, and they founded the metaphysical school (Scuola Metafisica) of painting, which attempted to create a new order of reality based on metaphysics. Soon, such painters as Giorgio Morandi, Ardengo Soffici, Filippo de Pisis, Alberto Savinio, and Mario Sironi joined the new movement. The next exhibition of Giorgio de Chirico was organized by Paul Guillaume on November 3, 1918 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris.

De Chirico moved to Rome in 1918, and was named a great avant-garde master on the occasion of an exhibition of that same year. A year later, the artist wrote an article The Return of Craftsmanship and published it in the Italian magazine Valori plastici, which illustrated the dominated traditional plastic values at the Italian artistic scene at that time. He published his other article, Noi Metafisici, in Cronache d'Attualità as well as the articles on Raphael, Böcklin, Klinger, Previati, Renoir, Gauguin and Morandi in various periodicals. The same period was also marked by his only solo show at Casa d'Arte Bragaglia in Rome which made a deep impression on the central European Dadaists.

In 1925, de Chirico returned to Paris, where the French proclaimed him one of the masters of surrealism. However, he had quarreled with the Dadaists and surrealists (he corresponded intensely between 1920 and 1925 with Paul Éluard and André Breton) and had left this stage of his development far behind.

In Paris, de Chirico designed scenery and costumes for the Ballets Suédois, the Ballets Monte Carlo (in particular, for the ballet of Serge Diaghilev), and began to paint a series of ruins, wild horses, and gladiators. After 1929, the year in which he published a strange dream novel, Hebdomeros, the artist changed his style entirely, renounced his adherence to the modern movement, and from then on, living in Rome, became not only a fierce critic of modernism but an academic painter of neoclassic character.

The following years of de Chirico's career were marked by the participation in different Italian exhibitions, such as the XVIII Venice Biennial in a gallery dedicated to Italian artists in Paris and the II Roman Quadrennial. For the Milan's V Triennial in 1933 de Chirico painted the monumental fresco La Cultura Italiana. The artist also illustrated the poetry collection of Apollinaire, Calligrammes, and the one of Jean Cocteau's called Mythologie with lithographs.

From 1937, Georgio de Chirico continued his collaboration with the magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and created several articles and essays on cultural topics, including Il Signor Dudron and an essay on sculpture Brevis Pro Plastica Oratio. During this period, he also began creating terracotta sculptures like the Archaeologists, Hector and Andromache, Hippolytus and his Horse and a Pietà, and made some copies of paintings by Rubens, Delacroix, Titian, Watteau, Fragonard and Courbet. In 1947, de Chirico set up a studio in an apartment located in Rome where he moved the following year and spent the rest of his life.

Achievements

• Giorgio de Chirico was a prolific artist and author who created a great number of remarkable paintings and essays on art.
  
  De Chirico's early paintings were important for the development of surrealist art. According to André Breton, founder of the surrealist movement, de Chirico's work was the only work that offered the possibility of expressing the surrealist program in pictorial terms. Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, and Salvador Dali, among others, were profoundly influenced by the art style of de Chirico.
  
  The artist inspired not only the painters, but the architects too, in particular, the avant-garde groups of the Lettrists and Situationists who found subjects for their works in de Chirico's piazzas, towers and visions of the future cities.
  
  Giorgio de Chirico's personality was the main subject of such pictures, as Aenigma Est (1900) by Dimitri Mavrikios and a documentary Giorgio de Chirico: Argonaut of the Soul (2010) by Kostas Anesis & George Lagdaris. An Italian moviemaker, Michelangelo Antonioni, created his desolate cityscapes and urban anomie after de Chirico's art. The settings of the videogame Ico for the Playstation 2 were also designed after the painter's art.
  
  The book title of the writing by Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, The Enigma of Arrival , was borrowed from de Chirico's similarly-named painting.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Memoirs of Giorgio de Chirico

    (One of the initiators of surrealism, de Chirico is a key ...)

    1994
  • Hebdomeros, the Metaphysician

    (One of the most revered and acclaimed products of Surreal...)

    1992

• drawing

  • Self-portrait

  • A Horse

  • Jupiter at the Sea

  • Portrait of Graziella

  • A Horse

  • The Mathematicians

  • Two Mannequins

  • Bacchanal Scene

  • The Roman Villa

  • Self-portrait

  • Self-portrait

  • Gladiators

  • Study of a Model

• painting

  • The Spouses

  • Metaphysical Interior with Biscuits

  • Portrait of Isa with Rose in Park

  • Italian Beauty

  • The Horse Has Gone

  • Landscape near Genova

  • Arab on Horseback

  • Metaphysical Interior with Biscuits

  • Hector and Andromache

  • A Village in Summerset

  • Via Appia

  • Furniture and Rocks in a Room

  • Self-portrait

  • Old Man's head

  • Nymph with Triton

  • Fallen Horse

  • The Great Metaphysician

  • The Conquest of the Philosopher

  • The Terrible Games

  • Horses on the Run

  • Still Life with Silver Ware

  • The Profit

  • Florence, the Banks of Arno

  • Bust of Minerva

  • St. George Killing the Dragon

  • The Mysterious Bath

  • Strange Travelers

  • Rising Sun on the Plaza

  • The Prodigal Son

  • Island and Flower Garland

  • Sacred Fish

  • Mystery and Melancholy of a Street

  • Furniture in the Valley

  • The Turk

  • The Dream Turns

  • Plaza Italia (Great Game)

  • Self-portrait in a Park

  • The Tower

  • Gladiators and Lion

  • Still Life in Venetian Landscape

  • Villa Falconieri

  • The Enigma of the Hour

  • The Evil Genius of a King

  • Runaway Horse with Stableboy and Pavilion

  • Antique Horses on the Aegean Shore

  • The Peasant Woman

  • Portrait of Isa with Black Dress

  • Bathers on the Beach

  • Archaeologists

  • Piazza d'Italia

  • A Village in Summerset

  • The Horses of Apollo

  • Portrait of Senora Gartzen

  • Landscape with Divinity

  • Self-portrait

  • Gladiators

  • Diana Sleep in the Woods

  • Self-portrait

  • Portrait of a Man

  • Knights and Horses by the Sea

  • A Troubadur

  • The Disquieting Muses

  • Metaphysical Interior with Sun Which Dies

  • Lucrecia

  • Colonial Mannequins

  • The Muse of Silence

  • Dioscuri with Horse

  • Nude Woman

  • The Great Metaphysician

  • Climb to the Monastery

  • Groom with Two Horses

  • Hector and Andromache

  • Self-portrait in the Studio

  • Metaphysical Interior of Studio

  • Cavalryman with a Red Hat and a Blue Cloak

  • Rural Scenes with Landscape

  • Plazzo Ducale (Venice)

  • The Return of Ulysses

  • Paris Studio of the Artist

  • Italian Piazza

  • Portrait of Artist's Mother

  • Landscape of Cascine

  • Black Grape

  • Philosopher and Poet

  • Horses with Riders

  • Lion Devouring a Piece of Meat

  • Vast Metaphysical Interior

  • The Red Tower

  • Turin Spring

  • Self-portrait in a Park

  • Happiness of Returning

  • Playthings of the Prince

  • The Mysterious Bath

  • Piazza d'Italia

  • Still Life with Flowers in Copper Bowl

  • The Duo (The Models of the Red Tower)

  • Self-portrait

  • Castor and His Horse

  • Portrait of Isa

  • An Amazon

  • Nymphs Bathing

  • The Child's Brain

  • Melancholy of a Beautiful Day

  • The Fall

  • The Tournament

  • Self-portrait

  • Eternity of a Moment

  • Cityscape

  • Nymphs

  • Nude Woman on the Beach

  • St. George

  • Self-portrait in Black Costume

  • Conversation

  • The Prodigal Son

  • The Nostalgia of the Poet

  • The Poet's Farewell

  • Dying Centaur

  • The Fall of Phaeton

  • Italian Plaza with Monument of Poet

  • Self-portrait

  • Villa Medici, Pavilion with Statue

  • Geometric Composition with Factory Landscape

  • Italian Plaza with a Red Tower

  • School of Gladiators

  • The Prodigal Son

  • The Great Tower

  • The Dioscuri

  • The Divine Horses

  • The Great Machine

  • Ariana, the Silent Statue

  • The Melancholy of Departure

  • The Archaeologists

  • Horse with Rider

  • Two Heads

  • Self-portrait with Palette

  • The Soothsayer's Recompense

  • Riders

  • Christ and the Storm

  • The Double Dream of Spring

  • Portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire

  • The Evangelical Still Life

  • Still Life

  • The Vexations of the Thinker

  • Still Life with Rocky Landscape

  • Island San Giorgio

  • The House in the House

  • Archaeologist

  • The Uncertainty of the Poet

  • The Enigma of the Arrival and the Afternoon

  • Italian Plaza with Equestrian Statue

  • The Predictor

  • The Bank of Thessaly

  • Metaphysical Triangle

  • Portrait of Andrea, Brother of the Artist

  • Gladiators

  • The Pregnant

  • The Gentle Afternoon

  • The Painter's Family

  • The Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs

  • White Horse's Head with Mane in the Wind

  • Eastern Woman's Head

  • Booths

  • Self-portrait Nude

  • The Enigma of the Oracle

  • The Song of Love

  • The Two Masks

  • The chariot

  • The anguish of departure

  • Girl Asleep

  • Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure)

  • The Awakening of Ariadne

  • Horse on the shore of a lake

  • The anxious journey

  • Self-portrait

  • Greetings from a distant friend

  • Silver teapot and cake on a plate

  • The one consolation

  • The Nostalgia of the Infinite

  • Self-portrait Nude

  • Two Horses by a Lake

  • Self-portrait

  • Horses and Temple

  • Gladiators

  • Metaphysical Interior with Large Factory

  • The Amusements of a Young Girl

  • The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon

  • Self-portrait

• poster

  • Poster for Fiat 1400

Views

Quotations: "To become truly immortal a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken it will enter the regions of childhood vision and dream."

"Böcklin knew how to create an entire world of his own of a surprising lyricism, combining the preternaturalism of the Italian landscape with architectural elements."

"Böcklin always springs from the precision and clarity of a definite apparition."

"Schopenhauer and Nietzsche were the first to teach the profound importance of the non-sense of life and how such non-sense can be transferred to Art […]. The capable and new craftsmen are philosophers who have surpassed philosophy."

Membership

Giorgio de Chirico was an honorary member of the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, and of the Académie Française (the French Academy).

• Royal Society of British Artists , United Kingdom

  1948

• Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium , Belgium

  1958

• Academy of France , France

  November, 1974

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Guillaume Apollinaire, a French poet: "The most astonishing painter of his time."
  
  Marcel Duchamp, a French artist: "De Chirico found himself in 1912 confronted with the problem of following one of the roads already opened or of opening a new road. He avoided Fauvism as well as Cubism and introduced what could be called 'metaphysical painting.' Instead of exploiting the coming medium of abstraction, he organized on his canvases the meeting of elements which could only meet in a 'metaphysical world.' These elements, painted in the minutest technique, were 'exposed' on a horizontal plane in orthodox perspective. This technique, in opposition to the Cubist or the purely abstract formula in full bloom at the moment, protected de Chirico's position and allowed him to lay down the foundation of what was to become Surrealism ten years later."

Interests

• Greek mythology

• Philosophers & Thinkers

  Friedrich Nietzsche

• Artists

  Max Klinger, Arnold Böcklin

Connections

Giorgio de Chirico met his first love, Antonia Bolognesi, in the autumn of 1917 in Ferrara, Italy. She became his fiancée. De Chirico had been in a long correspondence with her from January 1, 1919 during his trip. In December of the same year, the relationship ended.

Six years later, Giorgio met his first official wife, ballerina Raissa Gourevitch, whom he married on 3 February 1930. The marriage lasted one year.

While the husband of Raissa, de Chirico met a Russian woman Isabella Pakszwer who became his second wife after the break-up with Raissa. The couple lived toghether till the end of de Chirico's life.

Father:

Evaristo Maria de Chirico

(12 March 1841 – 8 September 1905)

Mother:

Gemma de Chirico

(neé Cervetto; probably between 1820 and 1880)

Sister:

Adelaide de Chirico

(probably 1855 – 1891)

Brother:

Alberto Savivnio

(25 August 1891 – 5 May 1952)

Born Andrea Francesco Alberto de Chirico, he changed his name to Alberto Savivnio in 1914. Philosophical and psychological topics, including the philosophy of art, were predominant in his works.

fiancee:

Antonia Bolognesi

(6 January 1896 – 13 January 1976)

ex-wife:

Raissa Gourevitch

(28 December 1894 – 24 January 1979)

Born Raisa Samojlovna Gurevič and known as Raissa Calza, Gourevitch was an Italian ballerina and actress of a Ukrainian origin. She was also an archeologist and an art historian of ancient Rome.

Wife:

Isabella Pakszwer

Later known as Isabella Far, she died in 1990.

teacher:

Georgios Roilos

(1867 – 28 August 1928)

Roilos was a Greek painter of the late 19th-early 20th century who represented Munich School. He worked primarily with historical themes, portraits, and scenes of everyday life.

teacher:

Georgios Jakobides

(11 January 1853 – 13 December 1932)

Jakobides was a Greek painter who represented Munich School. Known as one of the founders and curators of the National Gallery of Greece in Athens.

Friend:

Luigi Bellini

Luigi Bellini is known as the founder of the internationally famous antiques fair, Biennale International Fair of Antiquariato.

colleague:

Carlo Carra

(11 February 1881 – 13 April 1966)

Carlo Carra was an Italian painter who represented the Futurist movement. He also taught and wrote on art.

colleague:

Giorgio Morandi

(20 July 1890 –18 June 1964)

Morandi was an Italian painter and printmaker of the 20th century. The main subjects of his calm and meditative still lifes were vases with flowers, boxes, jars and bottles. These oil and watercolor depictions of everyday household things, as well as the artist's landscapes, represent a rejection of the turbulent modern life.

colleague:

Guillaume Apollinaire

(26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918)

Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, novelist, and art critic of the early 20th century. A strong supporter of Cubism, he is considered to be one of the forerunners of Surrealism.

References

• Giorgio de Chirico and the Metaphysical City The book examines the two most salient dimensions of the artist's early imagery: its representations of architectural space and its sustained engagement with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
  2014
• Giorgio de Chirico A book by Gerard Legrand.
  1979
• Giorgio de Chirico: The Endless Journey This richly illustrated book focuses on the artist's mysterious and fascinating representations of the human form and describes how events and friendships in his life influenced his artistic development.
  2002
• De Chirico: Essays A book by Maurizio Fagiolo Dell'Arco and William Stanley Rubin.
  1982
• De Chirico This illustrated survey, with more than sixty full color reproductions of de Chirico's most important paintings, re-examines the work of this visionary artist.
  1995
• De Chirico & The Mediterranean This scholarly work discusses de Chirico's neoclassical aesthetic as it contributes to his original metaphysical philosophy.
  1998
• De Chirico And America The book highlights the Giorgio de Chirico's first visit to America and includes work he rendered during his stay in New York.
  2006
• Giorgio de Chirico: A Majestic Silence The bilingual (Italian/English) volume celebrates Giorgio de Chirico through a wide selection of his works that illustrate the birth and development of metaphysical painting.
  2010
• Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico The official website of Giorgio and Isa de Chirico Foundation.