The Poet and His Muse
Giorgio de Chirico, Italian (born Greece), 1888 - 1978
Geography:
Made in Europe
Possibly made in France, Europe
Possibly made in Italy, Europe
Date:
c. 1925Medium:
Oil and tempera on canvasDimensions:
35 7/8 x 29 inches (91.1 x 73.7 cm)Copyright:
© 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomeCuratorial Department:
European PaintingObject Location:
1950-134-39Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
Made in Europe
Possibly made in France, Europe
Possibly made in Italy, Europe
Date:
c. 1925Medium:
Oil and tempera on canvasDimensions:
35 7/8 x 29 inches (91.1 x 73.7 cm)Copyright:
© 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, RomeCuratorial Department:
European PaintingObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1950-134-39Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
Label:
Though many of his paintings predate the start of Surrealism, Giorgio de Chirico had a profound impact on the movement. His starkly lit structures, desolate expanses, and inanimate figures are echoed throughout Surrealist landscape and portraiture. De Chirico’s uncanny merging of classical and modern imagery also helped define a new mode for evoking memory and fantasy in the visual arts. In this painting, created during the moment of the artist’s most direct involvement with Surrealism in Paris, mannequins represent a poet, seated, with his muse, whose toga falls back to reveal an interior of colorful blocks and tools.
Though many of his paintings predate the start of Surrealism, Giorgio de Chirico had a profound impact on the movement. His starkly lit structures, desolate expanses, and inanimate figures are echoed throughout Surrealist landscape and portraiture. De Chirico’s uncanny merging of classical and modern imagery also helped define a new mode for evoking memory and fantasy in the visual arts. In this painting, created during the moment of the artist’s most direct involvement with Surrealism in Paris, mannequins represent a poet, seated, with his muse, whose toga falls back to reveal an interior of colorful blocks and tools.
