Giorgio de Chirico's Timeless Cities: A Metaphysical Journey

In a reflective article for Artribune, Luca Cantore D'Amore explores the enduring relevance of Giorgio de Chirico's metaphysical cityscapes. Drawing on lectures by the late Philippe Daverio at Politecnico di Milano and ideas from Luca Doninelli's book "La conoscenza del sé" (2018), the author argues that de Chirico's work transcends its era, embodying an enigmatic sense of existence. Daverio's notion of being "in time" versus "on time" frames de Chirico as a shamanic artist who escapes temporal constraints, while Doninelli's focus on the "enigmatic sense of existing" finds visual form in de Chirico's paintings. Vittorio Sgarbi, in an interview in Osimo, called de Chirico "the most ancient of contemporary painters." The article examines the architecture in de Chirico's works, stripped of ornamentation to reveal essential volumes that both protect and unsettle. The absence of human figures, the long shadows, and the sense of waiting evoke a primordial, dreamlike state. References to Lucio Dalla's song "Viaggi organizzati" (1984), Aldo Palazzeschi's poem "La fontana malata" (1909), and works by Riccardo Milani and Domenico Starnone underscore the timeless, introspective quality of de Chirico's cities. The article concludes by linking de Chirico's metaphysical spaces to contemporary feelings of displacement and the concept of "Unheimlichkeit" (the uncanny) as discussed by Martin Heidegger and Chiara Torrente in "Abitare lo spaesamento" (2015).