Giorgio de Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico's idiosyncratic symbolic style had a powerful influence on 20th-century art, and in particular on Surrealism. His strange landscapes, featuring classical statues, Italian piazzas, sinister shadows, geometric objects and mannequins are filled with enigma. This volume focuses on the artist's mysterious and fascinating representations of the human form and describes how events and friendships in his life influenced his artistic development. At a young age de Chirico was deeply impressed by Arnold Bocklin's painting of Odysseus on the island of Calypso. De Chirico appropriated Bocklin's Odysseus for his own paintings, at first with little modification, then pushing it ever further into the background until it appeared only as a shadow. The author explains how the figure underwent numerous additional alterations in later paintings before returning to centre stage as the famous "manichino" figure, the faceless tailor's dummy.