De Chirico

The Vexation of the Thinker

How do you encompass the vastness of the world in a limited space and still retain its infinity and the discreet nature of things?

Streets that turn before ending, near horizons, raised walls promising magnitude, hidden compartments and the promise of beyond by tiny openings to the unknown. The Vexation of the Thinker is expressed by the reflecting posture telling us of the deep and isolated monologue. In a sense, the act of thought invades this corner of the world, but it is at the same time modest. Another painter might have invaded the canvas with the message. This corner of the street is overwhelmed by struggle, and you can feel the pause created when the world of questions and thought claims the soul of the searcher leaving him bare. The immaterial struggle illuminates the forefront, but there is also a more important message that runs through the never ending streets and bold corners of De Chirico's universe: the world itself.

The Disturbing Muses

Humans representations dwell this world, but they are almost indistinguishable from the world itself. They are part of the whole and add as much mystery as the next structure. In their silence, you can hear their conversations or their listening.

Certain artists have this ability to understand the plane of existence. Dali's plane covers the whole canvas. They all live in the same space. De Chirico is free to cut a piece in the symmetry of the world to bring the message out like a tray with questions. I have always been fascinated by this almost random misplacement of layers of space. The other mystery are the shadows. Every object has its shadow, and this fills the world with real things that have the same qualities in relation with each other: shadow, mystery, pieces and parts of a human world.

The world would have end up contained like the sheep inside the three hole box of Saint-Exupéry. But the shadows of objects you don't actually see make the world explode out of the flat structures. By leading us to this detail in the far, we start seeing depth even though the perspective is inaccurate. He is able to enhance or decrease importance and depth by placing concepts and noise.



The Tower

The conquest of the Philosopher

This is the magic. Under the hands of the Masters, tiny and insignificant things are discovered to have overwhelming power. They find them one day in their lives and they obsess forever trying to find the evading essence of the Truth discovered. The simplicity of the shadow of an object we don't actually see around corners absorbs us and makes the canvas our new reality.

The human form is the most delightful. In their silence and their isolation, they find themselves connected and vital, and we don't know why exactly.

De Chirico is a quiet intent to return to iconography after the popularity of the impressionists eliminated symbols across the Earth. This intent was probably too quiet or too brief because the metaphysical was soon replaced by the dream.