CaixaForum Barcelona Presents El mundo de Giorgio de Chirico: sueño o realidad (The World of Giorgio de Chirico: Dream or Reality)

Regarded as one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978) makes his presence known at the CaixaForum Barcelona, in an exhibition that surveys the Italian artist's imaginary through 125 works, most of which come from the collections of the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporane di Roma, as well as from public museums and private collections. This remarkable exhibition will remain open at the CaixaForum Barcelona from July 19 to October 22. Born in the Greek island of Volos, Giorgio De Chirico began his artistic trajectory in 1909 with a series of works that he called "Enigmatic Paintings." He eventually moved to Paris, where he met Apollinaire, Brancusi, Picasso, and Derain, as well as Carlo Carrà, leading figure of the Futurist movement with whom de Chirico founded pittura metafisica (metaphysical painting), a movement that influenced the surrealists. De Chirico's mannequin figures with egg-shaped heads occupy an important part of his most important period. About them, Mariastella Margozzi and Katherine Robinson, the curators of the exhibition, said the following: "They represent the central themes of metaphysics: the search for a space and time different from any real contingency." This anthological exhibition is considered the most important so far by de Chirico in Spain; only another exhibition centered on the artist was organized in 2007 at the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM), in Valencia. After Barcelona, the exhibition will be presented at the CaixaForum Madrid, where a metaphysical space will be reproduced so the public can be portrayed. A smaller version of the show will travel to Zaragoza and Majorca.