Giorgio De Chirico

GIORGIO DE CHIRICO Volo, 1888 - Rome, 1978

Giorgio de Chirico, born in Volo, Greece, on July 10, 1888, and died in Rome in 1978. Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico was born in Volo, Greece, on July 10, 1888, to Italian parents. Until 1899, the de Chirico family resided in Volo, where Giorgio received his first drawing lessons. The family later settled in Athens, where Giorgio attended the Polytechnic Institute from 1903 to 1906. In September 1906, his mother decided to leave Greece with her two children. After brief stays in Venice and Milan, the family moved to Munich, where Giorgio attended the Academy of Fine Arts. De Chirico dedicated himself to the study of Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger, and he read Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Weininger with great interest. During this period, he painted pictures influenced by Böcklin. In March 1910, the family moved to Florence, where a paternal aunt and uncle (the sister and brother of his father) lived. His first metaphysical painting was born there: "L'énigme d'un après-midi d'automne," inspired by a vision he had in Piazza Santa Croce. The work was preceded by "L'énigme de l'oracle" and followed, still in 1910 in Florence, by "L'énigme de l'heure" and the famous self-portrait "Portrait de l'artiste par lui-même" with the lapidary Nietzschean epigraph "Et quid amabo nisi quod aenigma est?" ("And what shall I love if not the enigma?"). On July 14, 1911, he arrived in Paris, where he developed the theme of the Piazza d'Italia. He participated for the first time in an exhibition at the Salon d'Automne in 1912. In March 1913, he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants. He was noticed by Picasso and Apollinaire. De Chirico introduced Savinio to Apollinaire, and together they attended the meetings of "Les Soirées de Paris." He met Paul Guillaume, his first art dealer, and within that context, he also met Constantin Brancusi, Max Jacob, and André Derain. He painted the famous "Portrait de Guillaume Apollinaire"; the poet dedicated the poem "Océan de Terre" to him the following year. He began the iconographic cycle of the "Mannequins." In May 1915, de Chirico and Savinio returned to Italy to present themselves to the military authorities in Florence and were subsequently transferred to Ferrara. He began painting his first "Metaphysical Interiors" during this period. In the same period, he also created "Il grande metafisico," "Ettore e Andromaca," "Il trovatore," and "Le muse inquietanti." In 1916, he met Filippo de Pisis, who was only twenty years old at the time. In 1917, he spent a few months at the military hospital Villa del Seminario for nervous disorders, where Carlo Carrà was also located. He came into contact with the Dada environment of Tristan Tzara and the magazine "Dada 2." He continued to keep in touch with the Parisian scene and send his works to Paul Guillaume, who, on November 3, 1918, organized an unusual exhibition featuring the artist's paintings, with an introductory text by Savinio, on the stage of the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. Apollinaire died on November 9, 1918. In the first issue of "Valori Plastici," he published the text "Zeusi l'esploratore," in which he proclaimed: "One must discover the demon in everything. [...] One must discover the eye in everything. [...] We are explorers ready for new departures," dedicating the essay to Mario Broglio, the magazine's founder. He moved to Rome on January 1, 1919. A dense correspondence reveals his plans to marry his fiancée Antonia Bolognesi, whom he met in Ferrara in the autumn of 1917. Their relationship ended in December 1919. In February, his first solo exhibition took place at Casa d'Arte Bragaglia in Rome. On that occasion, he published the essay "Noi metafisici" in "Cronache d'attualità," in which he wrote: "Schopenhauer and Nietzsche were the first to teach the profound meaning of the nonsense of life and how such nonsense could be transformed into art [...]. The new good artists are philosophers who have surpassed philosophy." During this period, de Chirico rediscovered the art of the great masters in museums and began making copies of Italian Renaissance masters. In Florence, he studied the technique of tempera and painting on wood. In 1921, he established a correspondence with André Breton. He wrote for various magazines, publishing essays on Raffaello, Böcklin, Klinger, Previati, Renoir, Gauguin, and Morandi. In 1922, an important solo exhibition was inaugurated at the Galerie Paul Guillaume in Paris, featuring fifty-five works. André Breton wrote the introduction to the exhibition. In 1923, on the occasion of the 2nd Roman Biennale, Paul and Gala Éluard went to Rome and acquired several of his works. He participated in the 14th Venice Biennale. In 1924, in Rome, he met the Russian dancer and future archaeologist Raissa Gourevitch Krol, who became his wife. Towards the end of the year, he was in Paris, where he created sets and costumes for Pirandello's "La Giara," performed by the Ballets Suédois with music by Alfredo Casella, at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. He collaborated on the first issue of "La Révolution Surréaliste," publishing his essay "Rêve," and was immortalized by Man Ray in the famous group photograph. He settled in the French capital in 1925. During these years, he began his research on the Metaphysics of light and Mediterranean myth, giving rise to themes such as the "Archaeologists," "Horses on the seashore," "Trophies," "Landscapes in the room," "Furniture in the valley," and "Gladiators”. On the occasion of his solo exhibition at the Galerie Léonce Rosenberg, the Surrealists harshly criticized the artist's most recent works. The rupture with the Surrealists was now complete and destined to worsen in the following years. He became acquainted with the patron Albert C. Barnes, who became a major collector and supporter of his work. He prepared sets and costumes for the ballet "Le Bal," produced by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. He exhibited in Italy and abroad in Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, and New York. On February 3, 1930, he married Raissa when their relationship was already compromised. In the autumn, he met Isabella Pakszwer (later Isabella Far), who became his second wife and remained by his side until his death. At the end of 1931, the rupture with Raissa was final. He exhibited at the 18th Venice Biennale in the room dedicated to Italian artists in Paris. De Chirico and Isabella moved to Florence for a year. In 1933, he participated in the 5th Milan Triennale, for which he executed the monumental fresco "La cultura italiana." He continued his theatrical activities, creating sets and costumes for Bellini's "I Puritani" for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (1933) and the scenography for D'Annunzio's "La figlia di Jorio," directed by Pirandello at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. In August 1936, he left for New York. De Chirico contributed to the magazines "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar." In January 1938, he returned to Italy and settled in Milan, later moving to Paris, disgusted by the racial laws. In Florence, during the years of the war, he was hosted by his friend, the antique dealer Luigi Bellini, together with Isabella, a Russian Jew born in Warsaw. He began creating some terracotta sculptures: "The Archaeologists," "Hector and Andromache," "Hippolytus and His Horse," and "Pietà." In 1944, he settled permanently in Rome. In 1945, he published the autobiographical texts: "Memories of My Life" and "1918-1925 - Memories of Rome." During 1947, he moved his studio and, the following year, his residence as well, to Piazza di Spagna 31, where he would reside for the rest of his life. In 1950, in protest against the Biennale—which two years earlier had exhibited a "formidable forgery" and had awarded the prize for Metaphysics to Giorgio Morandi—de Chirico organized an "Antibiennale" at the Società Canottieri Bucintoro in Venice, where he exhibited with "anti-modern" painters. He illustrated "The Betrothed" in 1965 and Homer's "Iliad," translated by Quasimodo, in 1968. He embarked on a new period of research known as the Neometaphysical, during which he painted works on meditation. Subjects such as the Mannequin, the Troubadour, the Archaeologists, the Gladiators, the Mysterious Baths, and the Sun on the Easel were reinterpreted in a new light, with vibrant colors and more serene atmospheres compared to the somber and intense ones of his early Metaphysical period, infused with a strange sense of unease. With great poetry, he established new combinations of subjects within his most famous spatial innovations, such as the 'Piazza d'Italia' and the 'Metaphysical Interiors,' once again inhabited by mythological characters like Minerva and Mercury. In November 1974, he was awarded the title of Academician of France. On November 20, 1978, Giorgio de Chirico passed away in Rome at the age of 90, and since 1992, his remains have rested at the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Trastevere.