Giorgio de Chirico: “There is much more mystery in the shadow of a man walking on a sunny day than in all the religions in the world”

Giorgio de Chirico

In the Mind of Great Artists

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“There is much more mystery in the shadow of a man walking on a sunny day than in all the religions in the world”
Giorgio de Chirico

This metaphysical painter seeks all the time to capture the feeling of strangeness that invades us when we face disturbing, unexpected, oneiric situations. The everyday world is a great enigma, and that is his obsession.

He paints strange landscapes as if they were slow-paced dreams, where loneliness prevails.

The Surrealists consider De Chirico their great model, their influence, and their inspiration. However, there is a difference between De Chirico’s metaphysical painting and Surrealism: although both explore beyond the physical world, beyond reality, they use different creative processes to achieve it. Through psychic automatism, Surrealists liberate the unconscious from all control of reason. Metaphysicians, on the other hand, consciously use symbols and metaphors to transmit their vision of the world.

The artist transports us to a dreamlike, unexpected reality that is absurd and full of loneliness. A very different reality, in appearance, with a powerful message: Is the reality in which we live less absurd and lonely? How many certainties can we have? Isn´t what we consider reasonable an absurdity and a real mystery?

Image: The Square (1913)

Recommended links:

Metaphysical Painting.

Giorgio de Chirico and His Uninhabited Architecture.

The Disquieting Muses.

The “Avant-garde” movements.

Surrealism.

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