Art review: The World of Giorgio de Chirico

The Greek-born De Chirico, who lived most of his life in Italy, was a major influence on the art of the 20th century. His enigmatic cityscapes and modern twists on classic themes are immediately recognisable, if difficult to interpret. This is his first retrospective exhibition in Spain.

The work of De Chirico bears a striking visual resemblance to that of artists like René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, so it is tempting to lump him together with the Surrealists. However, De Chirico actually rejected Surrealism after dabbling in it during the Twenties, and it is probably more accurate to say that the Surrealists imitated his revolutionary visual style and content. Many subsequent generations of artists owe a debt to De Chirico, including those of the Sixties Pop movement and today’s conceptual artists. So, while one might well imagine Magritte, for instance, painting a man rowing a boat across a lake in someone’s living room, it was De Chirico who did so first (in his The Return of Ulysses, 1968).  

With its roots in the philosophy of metaphysics, which considers the world in terms that lie beyond the physical, De Chirico’s unique vision blurs the edges between reality and fantasy in ways that are universally appealing. The exhibition divides his primary themes into six categories. His moody ‘Italian piazzas’, perhaps his most recognisable images that date back to 1910, are filled not with people, but with enigmatic and haunting empty spaces and dramatic shadows. Around the same time, he introduced the ‘Mannequins’, faceless figures with egg-shaped heads who are the main population of many of his compositions of this period. The ‘Metaphysical Interiors’ series comprises paintings from 1915 to 1918, in which a parade of incongruously placed objects within generic rooms appear for purposes that remain up to the imagination of the viewer. Naked men creepily appear partially inserted into stylised, zigzagging bodies of water in his ‘Mysterious Baths’, beginning in 1934; centaurs, giant swans and classic nudes float in and out of these enigmatic scenes. The ‘Classic World and Gladiators’ are products of his Neo-Classical and Neo-Baroque periods, and more traditional themes appear in the galleries featuring his ‘Portraits and Self-Portraits’, as well as his themes of ‘History and Still Life’. But even here, De Chirico’s unique vision is evident. From his early photorealist portraits of his wife to his own (unwelcome?) presence as a nude middle-aged seated man, the artist took liberties with a tradition that was handed down to him by his heroes, such as Peter Paul Rubens, whom he emulated.  

CaixaForum has installed the paintings, and a few sculptures, in a De Chiriquesque interior, where the works are framed by a series of his classic architraves. The travelling exhibition must have emptied out the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, the former home of the artist and his wife, which is located next to Rome’s famous Spanish steps. Almost all of the 142 works on loan came either from the foundation, or from the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome.

A small gallery projecting videos of interviews with the artist later in life helps to bring the visitor in touch with De Chirico the man, whilst a series of lectures on De Chirico’s predominant, and sometimes confounding, pictorial themes will complement the exhibition in September and October.