Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico. The influence of the Classical world

This exhibition explores the rapport shared between Giorgio de Chirico and the Classical world: a profound relationship that is articulately demonstrated through the visual dialogue held between the Maestro’s works and an array of specially-chosen artefacts lent by Musei Archeologici (Province of Salerno). Born to Italian parents in 1888 in Volos, Greece, de Chirico readily absorbed the influence of the cultural heritage of his childhood as well as the cultural impact of the Mediterranean. From the beginning of his second Parisian sojourn (1925-1932), the artist’s work began to noticeably feature the presence of gladiators, heroes, classical trophies and ruins: motifs that he adopted as reminders of a glorious past, that of the mythical Golden Age. Through his paintings and sculptures, de Chirico managed to breathe new life and meaning into the long-forgotten values, cultures and civilizations of the Classical world. With the Maestro’s interpretation of metaphysics forming the backdrop of every work, each direct or indirect citation to the ancient past forms a piece of a much larger and more complicated iconographical and conceptual puzzle. As is shown, the artist created works such as The Great Mysterious Trophy, The Archaeologists and The Thinker: assemblages of classical objects, which are suspended in both Time and Space. By exhibiting de Chirico’s work next to a selection of specially-chosen artefacts from the Musei Archeologici (Province of Salerno), the visitor embarks upon a fascinating and enlightening journey that leads him to the discovery of interpretation – one that is shared between the Maestro, one of the greatest artists of the Twentieth century, and the Classical world. For de Chirico “without the discovery of the past the discovery of the present is not possible.