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Born in Greece to Italian parents, Giorgio de Chirico was one of the forerunners of the Surrealist movement. Before Salvador Dali, there was de Chirico, who was a great influence on Dali’s early work. One only has to look at the works of de Chirico in the 1910’s and compare it to Dali’s work in the late 1920’s and early 30’s to see the similarities. Many of de Chirico’s oil paintings are reflective of Italian landscaping, as one can see in “O Enigma de Um Dia” (1914). Dali used this same landscaping style almost two decades later in his famed “Persistence of Memory” (1931).

While studying art in Athens and Munich, de Chirico stumbled across the workings of Symbolist painter Arnold Bocklin. From Bocklin’s allegorical work, de Chirico was inspired to paint his dreamlike cityscapes, which were desolate and dreamlike and filled with shadows. Columns, sand, wooden planks and broken statues were some of his common symbolic images. Faceless people and disassociated objects were also common in the works of de Chirico. These cityscapes were praised by Picasso and other members of bohemian Europe at the time and quickly elevated de Chirico’s standing amongst the Surrealists. His work even went to inspire pop-artist Andy Warhol later on who produced a series of t-shirts based on de Chirico’s work.

Together with his friend Carlo Carra, de Chirico founded the style of Pittura Metafisica, which means Metaphysical Painting. This style was meant to break the boundaries and limitations of cubism, and explore other realms and perspectives, and was rooted in the ideals of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. His work “The Nostalgia of the Infinite” (1911) which is housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is one of his greatest examples of Metaphysical Painting. In the style of his cityscapes, this oil-on-canvas work is full of shadowy symbolism. While the Metaphysical Painting movement was short-lived, ending in the 1920s, it greatly impacted many Surrealist painters in their works.

His later work from the 1930s on was a great departure from his earlier Surrealist work. He painted horses, portraits and still-life paintings in a more classical, baroque style. For this reason, some of de Chirico’s later work may have been mis-labeled or ignored, and it’s highly likely those works may be publicly owned and unrecognized.

Along with being an artist, de Chirico was also a writer, and wrote a collection of stories and poems in his Surrealist novel “Hebdomeros.” His memoirs, titled “The Memoirs of Giorgio de Chirico” also provide great insight into the works of this artistic master.

Also, look for some of his work signed “Pictor Optimus” (the best painter). During the height of his career, de Chirico had a large ego about his talent as a painter, and his quick rise to fame fed this ego. Otherwise, his works are clearly signed “Giorgio de Chirico” on the back-side of his canvas.

Although a Surrealist painter by early definition, de Chirico was also a talented classical painter, though met little commercial success with this style of painting. His “Self-Portrait” (1922) shows how de Chirico gracefully marries Surrealist landscaping and imagery (statue, orange blossom and leaves) with true to life portraiture of himself. This style of portraiture and still life’s of fruit against landscaping became common in de Chirico’s later work.

One of the most prolific painters of his day, de Chirico painted nearly up until his death in 1978. However, as his work “Sole sul Cavalletto” (1972) may suggest, it appears as though de Chirico embraced Surrealism again in his later years. For that reason, it is highly possible that some of his later work in the Surrealist style may have been either mis-dated or not identified as his own. In this piece, de Chirico again embraces symbolism and his former style of cityscape, wooden planks and metaphysical undertones.