Giorgio De Chirico: August 2012

"The Disquieting Muse"

"The Disquieting Muse"
Completed: 1916

Artist: Giorgio de Chirico

Dimensions: 97 cm x 66 cm

Media: Oil paint

Periods: Metaphysical art, Surrealism

“The Disquieting Muses” was painted during World War I, when De Chirico was in Ferrara. The Castello Estense, near which de Chirico lived, is in the background, rust-red and among industrial buildings. At the front are the two Muses, dressed in classical clothing. One is standing and the other sitting, and they are placed among various objects, including a red mask and staff, an allusion to Melpomene and Thalia, the Muses of tragedy and comedy. The statue on a pedestal in the background is Apollo, leader of the Muses.

My understanding and interpretation of this artwork is that the three muses are some kind of gods overlooking a war or battle. The one in the middle has its’ back facing to the battle but it’ face towards us. I think that shows that it doesn’t enjoy wars and prefers peace.

One element would have to be the three muses because looking at how they are all standing and sitting impacted my idea. Another element would be the sky. The sky is dark and gloomy and it bring upon a sad and tragic feeling. A third element would also be the red mask and the stick. To me it symbolises a mask that a solider or knight would wear and the stick would be a sword and weapon that they would use in a battle.

About Giorgio De Chirico's Life and Career

The Italian painter and graphic artist Giorgio de Chirico was born in Volvos, Greece, on July 7, 1888 to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father.

He attended the drawing class of the Polytechnic School in Athens, later he and his brother - who became a famous composer, painter and writer under the pseudonym Alberto Savinio - went to Munich, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1906 to 1909.

Giorgio de Chirico went to Italy in 1909, living in Milan, he visited Turin, Florence and other cities. He was in Paris from 1911 to 1915, participating in exhibitions.. The choice of topics and the atmosphere of his paintings show the strong influence of Friedrich Nietzsche's works. Reality and dream worlds mingle, he painted fantastic ideal architecture and city and landscapes views, strictly following the rules of perspectives, in them he placed single statues and the "Manichini" - faceless manikins, that seem to be lost in the surroundings. The artist focussed more and more on the artistic quality of his paintings.

At the outbreak of the First World War, he returned to Italy. Upon his arrival in May 1915, he enlisted in the Italian army, but he was considered unfit for work and assigned to the hospital at Ferrara. He continued to paint, and in 1918, he transferred to Rome. From 1918 his work was exhibited extensively in Europe.

He went to Paris again in 1925. He is a friend of the surrealist painters Max Ernst, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy and Salvador Dalí. The surrealists acknowledge his painting just as much as the painters of New Objectivity and Magic Realism.

De Chirico met and married his first wife, the Russian Ballerina Raissa Gurievich in 1925, and together they moved to Paris. His relationship with the Surrealists grew increasingly contentious, as they publicly disparaged his new work; by 1926 he had come to regard them as "cretinous and hostile".They soon parted ways in acrimony. In 1928 he held his first exhibition in New York City and shortly afterwards, London. He wrote essays on art and other subjects, and in 1929 published a novel entitled Hebdomeros, the Metaphysician.

In 1930, De Chirico met his second wife, Isabella Pakszwer Far, a Russian, with whom he would remain for the rest of his life. Together they moved to Italy in 1932, finally settling in Rome in 1944. In 1948 he bought a house near the Spanish Steps which is now a museum dedicated to his work.

Giorgio de Chirico died in Rome on November 11, 1978 and was laid to rest in the Church of St. Francis at Ripa, in Rome.

"The Melancholy of Departure"

"The Melancholy of Departure"

Artist: Giorgio de Chirico

Year: 1916

Type: Oil on Canvas

Dimensions: 68.2cm x 52.4cm (29.6 in x 20.6 in)

Location: Tate Modern, London