Giorgio De Chiricos Work and Architectural Spaces - Essay Example

Giorgio De Chirico’s work and architectural spaces A Greek-born Italian artist, Giorgio De Chirico, popularly known as the founder of scuola metafisica art movement was born on July 10, 1988 and died on November 20, 1978. Surrealists are supposed to have been greatly influenced by him in his early years of professional development, while in the years after 1919 traditional painting techniques captured more of his attention. While he frequented his earlier work for metaphysical themes, two of the styles that he concentrated on were neo-Baroque and neoclassical. From the architectural point of view, the piazzas and archways as depicted in the Turin moved the 'metaphysical aspects' in him. This was the emergence of modern urbanism in Giorgio De Chirico's work which, now, got dotted with abandoned piazza and classical architecture. Critic saw this as a haunting representation of the modern urbanism in question. The correlation was direct with Nietzschean philosophy which spoke of a provisional origin of architecture leading the moment into eternity, a bodily sacrifice and not as a shelter. When hi works are analysed, one discovers architecture a memory centered on a fatal origin and surrounded by a persistent dialogue taking places between these forces in which end and the origin circulate around this fatality (Mical, 2003). Understanding of architectural spaces as theatrical space Between the years 1910-1924 Giorgio de Chirico contributed numerous painting with this metaphysical thought which led the architecture take the center stage in a given piece of history where architecture disappeared and appeared in a given slot with unknowable origins. In most of the works that he painted during this period, architecture was repositioned as a subject matter that is 'disquieting' and located in spaces of modernity which can be felt as 'anxious'. Architecture's traditional theme representations were seen as being transgressed by these disquieting characteristics. When Giorgio de Chirico depicted these spaces as such, the effect produced was remarkably enigmatic even though architecture running as a persistent underlying theme has had a disruptive impact on the viewer. The disruption was on account of a 'convulsive' urbanism both uncanny and familiar in nature being portrayed in a dream-like vision. Such obscurity and polyvalence in hi architecture is considered as a direct outcome of his indulgence into Nietzsche philosophy which he is aid to have religiously followed for some years. At one point of time he had even remarked that he was the only man who had understood Nietzsche in hi entirety. To substantiate this statement, he referred to many of his works. According to Nietzsche, this phenomenon is a genealogy is an experiment, marked by a fragmentary game which is aphoristic in nature, in which a dynamic relativity exists wherein a number of forces confront each other (Blondel, 1991). This triggers off a systematic unity of discourse, irreducible and characteristic of a movement dotted with textual labour. Delving meticulously on the constructed scenes, Giorgio de Chirico's works, metaphysical and dream-like, appear both estranged and familiar simultaneously. In the process they form a eclectic mix of visual and linguistic signifiers that posses both classical and modern overtones. When viewed in their totality, they appear as having been drawn from dreamed labyrinth as discrete scenes, haunting in nature, nostalgic in their paraphernalia, and depicting strange spaces of exteriority and interiority. As it appears, in reality, these spaces are perceived as never having existed. This is because these works portray imaginary spaces which are overwhelming, based on obscurity, and siphoned off from an obscure origin. There is a fundamental emptiness surrounding the exteriority and interiority of these spaces and figures appearing in the same fall loosely into four categories of fragmented bodies, shadows or phantasms, absent bodies and statues. The latter are the most common feature of Geirgio de Chirico's early works and according to the artist provides the enigmatic origin to his vision which is metaphysical in nature. Shadows are fleeting, and do not want to stay in for long. They are nondescript. Similarly absent bodies come with a purpose of leaving a trace behind after they depart or before they have arrived. Shadows haunt the frames because of being uncanny and faceless. The fragmented component creates an impulse that is heterological and offers the artist's works a distinctive style of fragmentary architecture (Nehemas, 1985). In Giorgio de Chirico's metaphysical urbanism this fragmentary body can be found running persistently in most of his themes embodied on a visual language which is discursive yet non-linear, does not stand on deep structures that are timeless and hold on to the temporariness of many such fragments. These fragment exhibit irreducible plurality. Foster (1990) has been of the opinion that Giorgio de Chirico's works are both blinding and blind, fragmentary and fragment – true characteristic of exhibiting 'medusan effects'. In other words, his works use a shattered language to speak, thus holding on tightly to Nietzschean classical ideal. The repetitiveness of this discursiveness becomes a means to an end of through the genesis of the unknown origin on which it is based. Several of Giorgio de Chirico's painting deserve analysis. Some of the work by the artists most featured till date include Piazza d'Italia (1913), The Nostalgia of the Infinite (1911-1913), Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholoy of Departure) (1914), Mystery and Melancholy of a Street (1914) and The Double Dream of Spring (1915) etc. But the ones that illuminate a point of understanding of issues associated with the modern cities and understanding of architectural spaces as a theatrical experience include The Enigma of Oracle (1910), The Enigma of the Hour (1911), The Enigma of the Arrival and the Afternoon (1912), The Nostalgia of the Infinite (1911-1913), The Great Tower (1913), The Red Tower (1913) and The Soothsayer's Recompense (1913). The Enigma of Oracle In The Enigma of the Oracle Giorgio de Chirico has depicted melancholy and when the painting is closely observed, it can be seen as getting transformed into infinite sea and land vistas. In this work a central theme of death alienation and divine intervention pervades through the Calypso-Ariadne figure. The metaphor is the train of freshness and youth hurtling towards time and death depicted by a tower thereby creating an endless regressive vista in an apparent infinitude. Human alienation from the divine is shown by the brick wall. There exists an imagistic web in which melancholia assumes a powerful potion living up to the standards of Giorgio de Chirico's conceptual imagery bearing his trademark Greco-Roman signature. The figure, which stands away from the viewer, is cloaked at a high location, seemingly overlooking a town and at a distance from the sea. Head of a statue is emerging from the right side and partially visible over a curtain which is black, establishing another point of melancholy. The Enigma of the Hour The Enigma of the Hour, on the other hand, is truly depictive of the artist’s architectural centrality. This is metaphysics applied to urban environment and town squares. In this painting he has used his hallmark angular lighting such that it befits his portrayal of classical architecture. An urban scene, the painting comprises of several figures that are characteristic of vague features to an extent of being absent. The most striking feature is a clock overhead, with time set as 6 minutes to 3. This is another absurdity, as big and as vague and characteristic of the urban life. Probably the artist has attempted to depict both vagueness and vagaries of time that pervades urban life (Dottori, 2006). The Enigma of the Arrival and the Afternoon This painting is again bearing the artist's hallmark shadows interspersed with human figures, probably two women; one with her back toward the viewer. It is, perhaps, the later afternoon light that seems to be representing the enigma of the afternoon. The high-rise tower and the vast expanse behind them conveys the huge architectural integrity (or even distortion) of the life and time in which they are nestled. A strange element of boredom and sadness lurks in the whole frame. The Nostalgia of the Infinite The Nostalgia of the Infinite again expresses the theatricality of architectural spaces – a large tower, use of shadows by way of angular lights, and absurd figures below the tower. By far this work by Giorgio de Chirico has been the most famous one related to his tower themes. Hughes (1980) has opined that The Nostalgia of the Infinite has been either influenced by or drawn most of the inspiration by Turin's spectacular landmarks, the Mole Antonelliana. Subsequent to the ‘Nostalgia” work came two more on the tower themes – silhouetted figures, stark and strong shadows, large landscapes and expanse. In both the paintings there is a dream-like effect derived from the absence of a unified light source yet creating elongation of shadows. The perspective is strangely irrational yet powerful because the paintings establish a focus on objects which is hallucinatory. Classical facades give rise to vacant settings that are ominously silent. There is a visible effect drawn from an invisible drama. Since the event is absent, a momentousness lurks which, in turn, provokes melancholia and nostalgia. This results in an 'anxious feeling' in the viewer. In both these paintings two events move parallel to each other. One can be perceived or seen by the viewer, the other one metaphysical wrapped up in abstraction and clairvoyance (Rubin, 1982). The Soothsayer's Recompense The Soothsayer's Recompense is another work depicting sinister atmosphere, long shadows and powerful perspectives. The mysterious element is all-pervasive and the work speaks volumes on its surrealistic interpretation and relevance to the subject matter of architecture. The painting catapults one to what is happening, triggers a set of thoughts on what is not happening or what will happen. A human figure in a vegetative state, queasy yellow and dark shadows in one and glistening horizon in another part of the painting set a somber mood, a juxtaposition between two facets of a life – one that is alive and another that seem dead (Dorment, 2003). Conclusion Giorgio de Chirico's work represents a haunting aspect of classical architecture which could be linked to modern urbanism's emergence. Relying largely on Nietzschean philosophy, his painting, most notably the ones that he did after from 1910 onwards have four crucial forces running across the themes consistently. Thorough analysis of his works demonstrates abundant user of architectural spaces which provide an enriching experience with regard to issues associated with modern cities. References Blondel, E (1991). Nietzsche: The Body and Culture, trans, Sean Hand, Stanford, p. 86. Dottori, R. (2006). The metaphysical parable in Giorgio de Chirico's painting, La nascita della Metafisica. Enigma di un pomeriggio d’autunno, in De Chirico, Metafisica del tempo, edited by J. de Sanna, Ediciones Xavier Verstraeten, Buenos Aires, pp. 63-82. Dorment, R. (2003). Secrets and lies in the piazza. Retrieved http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3588891/Secrets-and-lies-in-the-piazza.html. Accessed December 09, 2012. Foster, H. (1990). Convulsive Identity, in Compulsive Beauty, Cambridge, Mass, p.64. Mical, T. (2003). The Origins of Architecture, After De Chirico. Art History, Volume 26, Issue 1, pages 78–99. Nehemas, A. (1985). Nietzsche: Life a Literature. Cambridge, Mass, p. 17. Rubin, W. (1982). “De Chirico and Modernism,” in De Chirico, exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, p. 57. Robert, H. (1980). The Shock of the New, New York: McGraw Hill. Read More