Members-Only Gallery Talk: Giorgio de Chirico and the Birth of the Metaphysical

About the Talk

Each month, members of our education, research, and curatorial teams present their ongoing research on the collection to members. These talks are a great way to learn more about your favorite artists.

Greek-Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978) is well known today for the enigmatic, disorienting landscapes he painted over a century ago early in his career. His askew piazzas, soaring arcades, and lonely statues represent a poetic and mystic vision of a dawning world and would mature into what de Chirico termed metaphysical art. This painting style sought to uncover the secondary aspect of reality embedded within all things and emerged from the artist’s intense reading of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. This philosophy, coupled with de Chirico’s itinerant upbringing across the Mediterranean, coalesced into a body of work that caught the eye of Dr. Albert C. Barnes.

Join gallery specialist Andrew Boyer for a deeper look into de Chirico's life, art, and philosophy. This talk begins at the entrance to the Collection Gallery and takes place in Room 23.