(Nature according to De Chirico)

In conclusion of the celebrations dedicated to the great Italian master Giorgio de Chirico during 2008-2009, Palazzo delle Esposizioni is honouring the founder of Metaphysical Art with a major exhibition. Metaphysical Art, one of the most significant and fertile cultural movements of the 20th century, will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2010.

Born of an Italian noble family in 1888 in Volos, the heart of classical Greece, de Chirico was educated in Munich where he was influenced by Symbolist painting and the philosophy of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. Metaphysical Art came into being in 1910 in Florence when the artist painted The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon and was further developed in Paris and Ferrara. De Chirico (who passed away in Rome in 1978 at 90 years of age) dedicated his entire life to exploring the poetic possibilities of an art aimed at revealing the enigmatic quality of reality. The exhibition, which presents works from the entire range of the artist's production - from his symbolist debut, to the development of Neo metaphysics in his later years - places an accent on a specific theme: de Chirico's consideration of Nature. The concept of Nature is a constant focal point in de Chirico's work: whether idealised in mythological landscapes, exalted in the poetical apparition of his famous still-lifes, transfigured in the hallucinating urban landscape of the Italian Piazza, or frozen within the strict geometry of the mannequin. Whether interpreted as ordered Cosmos or as Chaos, Nature is undecipherable on its own and requires the artist to come up with a solution to the enigma of its appearance, an enterprise Giorgio de Chirico endeavoured upon  over the course of his long artistic career.

Curated by one of the most celebrated art critics of today, Achille Bonito Oliva, the exhibition will examine circa 140 paintings on loan from some of the most important public and private collections, including rarely show works and some that have never been seen before. The show comprises seven distinct thematic sections, distributed in a rich and evocative itinerary in the seven galleries surrounding Palazzo delle Esposizioni's monumental Rotunda.

In homepage:
Giorgio de Chirico
Le Duo, 1914-1915
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Lascito James Thrall Soby, 1979
© 2009. Digital Image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Firenze © Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico