Works from the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Collection

8 December 2011 – 20 September 2012 – Brazil

In occasion of the Year of Italy in Brazil 2011-2012, Fundação Iberê Camargo, Casa Fiat de Cultura and Museu de Arte de São Paulo are delighted to announce the forthcoming exhibition dedicated to Giorgio de Chirico, the illustrious founder of Metaphysical Art. The show will travel to these three venues and is curated by Maddalena D’Alfonso.

Organised in collaboration with Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, the exhibition enjoys the patronage of both the Italian Embassy and the Istituto Culturale Italiano in Brazil, and comprises of over sixty works including paintings and sculptures from the artist’s Neo-metaphysical period of the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition presents, possibly for the first time ever, the complete set of the 66 lithographs that the artist produced for Guillaume Apollinaire’s Calligrammes (1930).

Whilst providing a unique occasion for the Brazilian public to better acquaint themselves with Giorgio de Chirico’s work, the exhibition also illustrates one of the key aspects of his painting: the importance of architecture, with his cityscapes and urban scenes as the focus of study. The show’s main objective is that of offering the visitor a critical and historical interpretation of de Chirico’s urban space – conceived as civitas – as well as the relationship shared between the figure and his architectonic spatial surroundings. Urban imagery and the city embody modern Man’s inner dimension and psychology. Citoyen du monde, de Chirico lived in Volos, Athens, Munich, Florence, Paris, Ferrara, Rome and New York. His cities are symbolic reinterpretations of a timeless classical architecture featuring “the Italian Piazza” and other specific representations, such as the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, the Mole Antonelliana in Turin and Paris’ Gare Montparnasse.

Specifically chosen works – lent exclusively by Fondazione de Chirico – illustrate well-known dechirican themes: the Italian Piazza, the Metaphysical Interior, as well as the Mannequin and the Archeologists. These works, which belong to de Chirico’s final artistic period, are characterised by the poetical treatment of the protagonists and the energetic use of colour, while demonstrating de Chirico’s innovative use of representational space: a stage upon which the relationship between Man and his world is played out.