Salvador Dali & The Surrealists: The Argillet Collection | Page 41
G iro g i o d e C h i r i co
1888-1978
Italian painter Girogio de Chirico was born in Greece and
received his training in Athens and the Academy of Fine Arts,
Munich, Germany. The enormous impact on the formation of his
art evolved from his romantic appeal to metaphysical painting,
where the world of dreams is represented in reality, a feature that
made Chirico the forerunner of Surrealism.
Frequent images of Chirico’s art appear as depersonalized
asexual mannequins on joints which impart an air of mystery to
Chirico’s paintings. This feature is also typical of the master’s
graphical works from the Argillet Collection. He met Pierre
Argillet in the late 1960’s in Paris.
“Art is the fatal net which
catches these strange
moments on the wing like
mysterious butterflies, fleeing
the innocence and distraction
of common men.”
—DE CHIRICO
36
DETAIL: Hebdomeros in
a Boat in His Room