Pittura metafisica (Metaphysical Painting) is an Italian movement in painting that developed from around 1910 and lasted until the mid-1920s. The name comes from metaphysics, which means the doctrine of the reasons and connections of being. In 1917, Giorgio de Chirico, his brother Alberto Savinio and the Futurist Carlo Carrà founded the Scuola metafisica in Ferrara.
The characteristic of Pittura metafisica is that the supersensible, that which can only be recognised in acts of thought, and the spiritual, the transcendent, which lies beyond the world of the senses, are elevated to a pictorial system.
1917-1925
Pittura metafisica
The sequences of pictorial contents often lie beyond what can be experienced by the senses and a second mysterious reality is hidden behind the visible things.
The painting of the Pittura metafisica is presented in the form of almost stage-like, mostly deserted places. Altered proportions, unrealistic colouring and the incorrect reproduction of light and shadow, as well as the use of several vanishing points characterise this genre. Due to the lack of aerial perspective, many paintings appear to be in a vacuum. In terms of content, the frequently depicted revaluation of existing values creates a connection to the contradictory.
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