Giorgio de Chirico and Belgian Surrealism

The exhibition Giorgio de Chirico and Belgian Surrealism invites visitors to immerse themselves in the metaphysical universe of the Italian artist with an atypical, ambiguous personality, and show the degree to which de Chirico was a model for certain Belgian Surrealists. For René Magritte (1898–1967), Paul Delvaux (1897–1994), Jane Graverol (1905–1984), and Jacques Lacomblez (b. 1934), Giorgio de Chirico is of particular importance, and their encounters with his work determined the evolution of their careers. From him they took a poetic approach to painting, a mysterious atmosphere, a freedom of representation, and certain themes found in de Chirico’s oeuvre. Indeed, ignoring chronology, the temporal dimension, and art history, de Chirico constantly explores the same themes, which he revisits, mocks and parodies. The exhibition presents—through three thematic sections (“The Infinite Space of Dreams”, “A Paradise Lost,” and “From Myth to Philosophy”)—some forty works from the collections of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, spanning Giorgio de Chirico’s career.