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Art Giorgio de Chirico My pinacoteca

Il grande metafisico

Painting of the day:

Giorgio de Chirico
Il grande metafisico
~ 1917
Museum of Modern Art

3 replies on “Il grande metafisico”

Agreed. This painting is a gem.

This passage of Man and his Symbols, page 257—:

In Chirico’s work, man is deprived of his soul; he becomes a manichino, a puppet without a face (and therefore without consciousness). In the various versions of his Great Metaphysician, a faceless figure is enthroned on a pedestal made of rubbish. The figure is a consciously or unconsciously ironical representation of the man who strives to discover the “truth” about metaphysics, and at the same time a symbol of ultimate loneliness and senselessness.

—brings to my mind quite a few so-called “great metaphysicians” of Western philosophical tradition.

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