Giorgio De Chirico - The Returning One

The iconography developed in this work addresses a key idea in Giorgio De Chirico's poetics, one that is also fundamental to the development of his metaphysical theses: the concept of a "return to origins." For De Chirico, contemporary art should not create new images; rather, the artist should select them from the past, as if it were an ideal museum, arrogating to himself the freedom to rework them into creative compositions. In particular, the subject of this work is inspired by a conscious quotation drawn from ancient art. De Chirico sketches a large-scale head, set in an ancient setting, which draws inspiration from the colossal statue of Constantine (Capitoline Museums, Rome) and which simultaneously becomes a self-portrait/manifesto of the artist.

This interpretation, by Giorgio de Chirico, is perfectly in line with the painter's artistic vision. For de Chirico—and this is one of the founding principles of Metaphysical Art—art, saturated by avant-garde experimentation, must necessarily return to its origins. This presupposes, from a strictly formal perspective, the use of a figurative language faithful to sensory data. Respecting the desire to give a sketchy character to these graphic works, Giorgio de Chirico here adopts a more cursive, lively, and synthetic language, compared to the dry hyperrealism typical of his more metaphysical works. Nevertheless, a strong plastic connotation remains constant in this painter's language, still linked to the finest tradition of Italian painting.

Giorgio De Chirico, born in Volos, Greece, in 1888, died in Rome in 1978. He is the founder of Metaphysical painting. De Chirico reclaims images that already exist, familiar to the collective imagination. But he creates an effect of estrangement through the process of displacement—the sudden appearance of an object outside its usual context—or condensation, the fusion of multiple objects into a single entity. Metaphysical painting is also characterized by the illusory nature of its images.

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