Metaphysical painting
Description
Metaphysical painting (Italian: pittura metafisica) or metaphysical art was a style of painting developed by the Italian artists Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà. The movement began in 1910 with de Chirico, whose dreamlike works with sharp contrasts of light and shadow often had a vaguely threatening, mysterious quality, "painting that which cannot be seen". De Chirico, his younger brother Alberto Savinio, and Carrà formally established the school and its principles in 1917. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Giorgio de Chirico
The visionary originator of Pittura Metafisica who painted disquieting, sun-drenched Italian piazzas populated by classical statues, elongated shadows, and faceless dressmakers' mannequins.
Carlo Carrà
Former Futurist who joined de Chirico at the Ferrara military hospital in 1917, adopting his dreamlike mannequin imagery while infusing his compositions with archaic Giotto-like stillness and thick impasto.
Giorgio Morandi
Italian master of intimate still-life painting who embraced Metaphysical principles between 1918 and 1922, arranging simple bottles, boxes, and mannequin heads into silent, contemplative spatial geometries.
Alberto Savinio
Younger brother of Giorgio de Chirico, writer, composer, and painter who co-founded the Metaphysical school, populating strange theatrical interiors with mythological hybrid figures and toys.
Filippo De Pisis
Poet and painter who befriended de Chirico and Carrà in Ferrara during 1916–1917, writing early theoretical essays defending Metaphysical painting and creating enigmatic marine and still-life compositions.
Famous Artworks
Fun Facts
In 1913, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire first used the term 'metaphysical' to praise Giorgio de Chirico's paintings exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, four years before de Chirico and Carlo Carrà formally established the Scuola Metafisica at a military hospital in Ferrara.
↗ Source: tate.org.uk
During World War I, both Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà were stationed in Ferrara and recovering from nervous breakdowns at the Villa Seminario military hospital, where they collaborated daily in 1917 to develop the formal principles and mannequin iconography of Pittura Metafisica.
↗ Source: britannica.com