Metaphysical Art

18 March 2016

Portrait of Madame L. Gartzen 1913,
Oil on canvas, 72,5 x 60 cm.

Private Collection, Roma  The year 1910 marked not only a turning point in de Chirico’s career but also in the history of art. Following several months living in Florence, the artist experienced his first metaphysical revelation before the dominating statue of Dante and the Basilica of Santa Croce in Piazza Santa Croce. It provided him with “the strange impression that I was seeing everything for the first time. Influenced by 19th century philosophical thought, particularly by Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Weininger, de Chirico spent the ensuing eight years in Florence (1910-1911), Paris (1911-1915) and Ferrara (1915-1918) lending tangible form to his unique understanding of metaphysics through enigmatic works of his immediate surroundings and everyday objects that harbour an inherent sense of discovery and revelation. His early metaphysical corpus includes eerily empty Italian piazzas with long shadows inhabited by a solitary statue of Ariadne or that of a politician, disquieting faceless mannequins, and claustrophobic interiors filled with random juxtapositions of geometric instruments, maps, bizarre objects and the motif of paintings within paintings.

Highlighting his various periods with examples from his earliest works to last ones, Giorgio de Chirico: The Enigma of the World exhibition took place at the Pera Museum between 24 February - 08 May 2016.

The Battle of Varna

The Battle of Varna

Over the years of 1864 through 1876, Stanisław Chlebowski served Sultan Abdülaziz in Istanbul as his court painter. As it was, Abdülaziz disposed of considerable artistic talents of his own, and he actively involved himself in Chlebowski’s creative process, suggesting ideas for compositions –such as ballistic pieces praising the victories of Turkish arms. 

The Chronicle of Sarajevo

The Chronicle of Sarajevo

Inspired by the great European masters, from Renaissance to Art Nouveau, Berber’s works exemplify the deep, opaque whites of his journeys through the fairy tale landscapes of Bosnia to the dark, macabre burrows of Srebrenica.

Paula Rego in Istanbul!

Paula Rego in Istanbul!

We, by which I mean some of my classmates and I, knew about Paula Rego. I’ll have to admit, I didn’t know where Rego was from or even where in Europe Portugal was. I thought she was English. Let me tell you how I first heard the very un-English sounding name “Paula Rego”