The Prodigal Son. 1922. Oil on canvas.
Museo d'Arte Contemporanea
(Museum of Contemporary Arts), Milan (Italy). [p]
The artwork was created by
Giorgio de Chirico (mostly known as De Chirico), he was born on 10th
of July in 1888 in Volos, Greece. He died on 20th November in 1978,
aged 90 in Rome of Italy. [1] He
established the Metaphysical Art movement, which played a vital role in
inspiring surreal art.
He studied Art in Athens
under the guidance of Georgios Roilos and Georgio Jakobides. In 1906, he moved
to Germany and entered the Academy of Fine Art in Munich, where he read
writings from philosophers such as Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer. [2] In
1910, he moved to Florence and painted “The
enigma of an autumn afternoon”, after the revelation he had in Piazza Santa
Croce on his journey to Paris. The painting is the first in the series of “Metaphysical Town Square”. He was
interested in, according to him, the “metaphysical aspect” of Turin. [2]
Ariadne, circa 1913, made
with oil and graphite on canvas
(135.3 × 180.3 cm). [a]
This artwork shows a statue
of Ariadne sleeping in the foreground in a public square. In accordance to
Greek Mythology, Ariadne was abandoned by her Lover Theseus as she slept in the
Island of Naxos. She became a symbol of isolation and loneliness for De Chirico
during his Metaphysical period. [a]
Metaphysical is to "to express the depressing emptiness and frightening coldness of a world estranged from man and to reveal a kind of secret, magical meaning in the arrangement of unrelated objects." [b] During his Metaphysical
period his medium was mainly oil, later years he starts to explore more and
uses etching, engraving and lithograph for his artworks. [n]
Reference:
[p]: http://www.abcgallery.com/C/chirico/chirico15.html
[1]: Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art
other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby
Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.120
[2]: Memoirs of
Giorgio de Chirico, Da Capo
Press; New edition
[b]: Apollonio, U. Pittura metafisica. Venice, 1950.
[n]: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search?ft=DE+CHIRICO
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