Piazza d ‘Italy

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: The Toronto Art Gallery (Canada).

This painting is a vivid example of the urban landscape by de Chirico; it was the artist’s favourite genre in the metaphysical period of his work. De Chirico began to paint empty streets of Italian cities, thanks in large part to the art of photography, in particular, the work of the French surrealist photographer Jean Atget, whom he met in Paris. In his canvases, the artist did not depict a specific locality, but rather a composite image containing typical features of the Italian city with its columns, statues, squares and train stations. Here we also meet another permanent symbol of de Chirico – the train and the railway, which was probably inspired by childhood memories, since the artist’s father worked as an engineer on a railway.