Metaphysical painting

also: Pittura metafisica · Metaphysical art

movement c. 1910-1919 Italy Europe

Metaphysical painting (pittura metafisica) was developed in Italy by Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà in the years around World War I. De Chirico began it about 1910: a revelation in Florence's Piazza Santa Croce gave him the theme of the deserted square, and The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon is considered his first metaphysical work. Drawing on Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger rather than French modernism, he painted silent arcades, mannequins and incongruous objects under raking light - 'painting that which cannot be seen', as the phrase went. In 1913 Guillaume Apollinaire first called the pictures 'metaphysical'. In 1917, meeting de Chirico in Ferrara, Carrà adopted the style, and with Alberto Savinio the two formally founded the school. Giorgio Morandi, Filippo de Pisis and Mario Sironi followed briefly; by 1919 the founders had moved on - but the enigma passed into Surrealism, from Magritte to Dalí.

Arnaldo Dell'Ira (1903-1943), Piazza d'Italia 3
Arnaldo Dell'Ira (1903-1943), Piazza d'Italia 3Public domain (credit: Arnaldo Dell'Ira) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Deserted urban squares and steeply receding arcades in raking light
  • Tiny distant figures casting long shadows; stillness and arrested time
  • Faceless dressmakers' mannequins standing in for people
  • Enigmatic juxtapositions of ordinary and classical objects
  • Sharp contrasts of light and shadow; dreamlike, vaguely threatening mood
  • Impossible spaces rendered with immobile, correct clarity

Key figures

  • Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) — Inventor of the metaphysical style; painter of its silent piazzas and mannequins
  • Carlo Carrà (1881-1966) — Adopted the style in Ferrara in 1917; author of the book Pittura Metafisica (1919)
  • Alberto Savinio (1891-1952) — De Chirico's brother; co-founder of the school in 1917
  • Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) — Painted metaphysical still lifes and interiors around 1917-1920

Example works

Sources

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