Giorgio De Chirico was born in Greece in 1888 to an Italian family and he was influenced by the classical culture which had a great impact on his work. De Chirico studied in Munich but he also travelled to France where, from 1911, he attended the Salon d’Automne and Salon des Indépendants. Between 1912 and 1913 his fame spread and it was during this period that he began to paint his first mannequins. During his Parisian years De Chirico made some of the seminal paintings of the 20th century. In Italy he stayed in Milan, Florence and Ferrara where he was sent to attend the army service, during this period (1915-1918), and thanks to the city he developed his unique type of painting called “metafisica”.According to De Chirico, painting must stop reproducing reality in its pure appearance, but it must investigate the complex relationships between things. Loneliness, bewilderment, enigma, desert streets and mannequins are some of his most represented topic, which convey a sense of alienation and timeless atmosphere.
Today, De Chirico’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, among others.
