Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a graphite drawing by Giorgio de Chirico. It dates from 1917 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1917, this pencil drawing by Giorgio de Chirico presents a surreal assemblage of an angular chair supporting a disproportionately large head, set before a building crowned with a clock tower and industrial smokestacks. The composition is rendered entirely in graphite, with sharp contours and layered cross‑hatching that generate a muted, dreamlike atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The work juxtaposes everyday objects—a chair and a human head—with an architectural backdrop, producing a scene that defies ordinary logic. Influences from Schopenhauer’s pessimism and Nietzsche’s existential questioning, as well as de Chirico’s personal connection to Greek myth, inform the unsettling, metaphysical mood of the piece.
Technique & Style
De Chirico employed dense cross‑hatching and varied line weight to model form and suggest depth, while maintaining a flat, graphic quality typical of his Metaphysical period. The stark, angular rendering of the chair and head emphasizes their artificiality, and the precise linear perspective of the building creates a tension between realism and the uncanny.
History & Provenance
The drawing belongs to de Chirico’s pre‑World‑I output, a time when he was a central figure in the scuola metafisica. It has remained in private collections since its creation, with limited exhibition history, reflecting the artist’s early exploration of the themes that would later define his mature oeuvre.
Context
During the 1910s, de Chirico’s work responded to a broader European fascination with the subconscious and the irrational, aligning with contemporaneous movements that questioned conventional representation. His incorporation of classical motifs and industrial elements mirrors the cultural tensions of post‑imperial Italy.
Legacy
Although untitled, the drawing exemplifies the visual language that de Chirico introduced to modern art, influencing Surrealist painters such as Dalí and Magritte, who adopted similar juxtapositions of enigmatic objects within ambiguous spaces.
Artist & collection
Artist
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( KIRR-ik-oh; Italian: ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was a Greek-Italian artist and writer born in Volos, Greece.
