Giorgio de Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico was a Greek-born, Italian artist and the founder of Metaphysical Art (Pittura Metafisica). He began studying art in 1900 at the Athens Polytechnic. After his father’s death in 1905, his family moved to Munich, where he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Art, an influential centre of traditional European painting.

By 1909, de Chirico had moved to Milan and started to develop a new visual language, simplifying forms and using flatter, more abstract compositions. In 1911, he arrived in Paris and became part of the avant-garde art scene, connecting with artists linked to Cubism and later inspiring Surrealism.

During this time, de Chirico developed Metaphysical Art, creating images of empty city squares, classical buildings, long shadows, and unexpected objects placed together in unusual ways. These works suggest meanings beyond what is shown, encouraging viewers to think deeply and imagine their own interpretations. His dream-like scenes challenge logic and create a sense of mystery, tension, and the uncanny.

For example, in works such as Italian Square, de Chirico combines real and unreal elements architecture, statues, and distant trains under dramatic lighting to create strange, quiet spaces that feel both familiar and unsettling.

Italian square (Piazza d’Italia)

Painted in 1951, Italian Square is a later work by de Chirico that demonstrates the artist returning to his earlier metaphysical art and revisiting a favoured subject (the artist painted at least three other versions of this work). Depicting the Piazza d’Italia in Turin, which de Chirico first visited in 1910, the work is imbued with an uncanny, otherworldly presence. The raking light casts long shadows from the two figures, the steam locomotive (often considered a reference to de Chirico’s father who was a railway engineer) travels slowly through the middle ground, dwarfed by the monumental architecture and brooding evening sky. A classical sculpture of Ariadne rests heavily in the foreground, revelling in the viewer’s gaze with her monumentality reinforced by her mountainous shadow filling the foreground.

Text by Tansy Curtin, Curator International Art Pre-1980

Giorgio de Chirico, born Volos, Greece 1888, died Rome 1979, Italian square (Piazza d’Italia), 1951, Rome, oil on canvas, 50.0 x 40.0 cm; James and Diana Ramsay Fund 2022, Art Gallery of South Australia, © Estate of Giorgio de Chirico/SIAE. Copyright Agency.

Explore & Respond

  • ideas, practices, works and contexts for the arts in the lives of individuals and groups across cultures, times, places and communities 
  • the diversity of how, where and why people create, make, perform, present and respond across arts forms, and the roles that the arts play in lives, cultures and communities 
  • ways in which the arts communicate cultural and aesthetic knowledge, purpose, meaning and emotion  
  • ways in which the arts develop empathy and understanding of multiple perspectives, across personal, local, regional, national and global contexts. 

Developing practices and skills

  • creative skills for using and manipulating the elements, principles, conventions and/or processes of arts forms 
  • using available materials and technologies to develop and communicate ideas, perspectives and/or meaning 
  • critical skills in observing, reflecting, analysing, evaluating and/or documenting their own and others’ arts-making practices, using language and/or embodied practices. 

Creating and Making

  • individual and/or collaborative work using available resources/materials in diverse existing, emerging and innovative forms, styles and/or genres  
  • new work, which may be refined and realised, or may be presented as a work in progress  
  • interpretations of work created by others and interpretations of their own work as performers; interpreting involves informed observation, analysis, reflection and evaluation. 

Presenting and Performing

  • share their work using available spaces, materials, technologies and/or digital tools   
  • plan, select, design and rehearse their presentations and performances  
  • What do you notice first in Italian square?
  • Where does your eye travel? What visual devices has the artist used to lead you through the painting?
  • What feels realistic? What feels strange?
  • How does light and shadow affect the mood?
  • How does de Chirico manipulate space and perspective?
  • Imagine stepping into the scene. What sounds might you hear? What feels unsettling?
  • How does de Chirico make familiar places feel unfamiliar?
  • Why might Surrealist artists admire his work? See our What is Surrealism resource for more information.
  • In what ways does the work challenge logic or narrative?
  • De Chirico’s city squares are often quiet and sparsely populated. Why might the artist remove crowds or activity? How does emptiness change the feeling of the space? What emotions does the absence of people create?

Write a narrative for your favourite de Chirico work. Consider what happened just before the moment depicted and what might happen next. Include a sense of suspense or ambiguity rather than to provide the reader with a clear conclusion.

  • Create an imagined city square. Include:
    • architectural elements e.g. arches, towers, arcades, you might like to photograph architectural features in the CBD to include in your work of art.
    • At least one unexpected object. Use your imagination!
    • Long shadows or dramatic lighting.

The aim is to create a sense of mystery rather than realism.

This work could be presented as a drawing or painting in which this task would be ideal to teach students about the principles of one and two point perspective, as well as tone.

Alternatively students could create three-dimensional models or a tableaux which they could then photograph with dramatic lighting.

More