- 31
Giorgio de Chirico
Description
- Giorgio de Chirico
- Sole sorgente e sole spento
- firmato e datato 1968
- olio su tela
- cm 65x55
Provenance
Literature
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Nell’opera Sole sorgente e sole spento, Giorgio De Chirico è in grado di formulare un linguaggio nuovo, velato da un certo gusto naif, comprensibile però universalmente perché maturato in uno spazio iconico fatto di rovine e muri in laterizio, testimonianze di una civiltà resa immortale dalla memoria, e tracce del presente. Dall’incontro dell’antico, classico ed ancestrale, quello delle colonne e dell’astronomia, con un’iconografia contemporanea, Giorgio De Chirico ci restituisce un’opera immortale, senza tempo. Nascosto dal muro al centro della composizione, il sole gioca a nascondino, mentre un suo gemello, spento, ci è restituito in primo piano. Come un chiasmo invece, la luna spenta fluttua nel cielo, mentre quella accesa dorme nell’estremità opposta. I quattro protagonisti, sono collegati tra loro da cavi, nascosti anch’essi dal muro: il rimando alla dialettica tra vita e morte è allora evidente, seppure nascosta, dunque incomprensibile. Sereno ed inquietante, giocoso e tetro, questo capolavoro ci dona l’idea di un De Chirico all’apice della maturità, metafisico, che guarda oltre.
“…mi sono ispirato ai ricordi che risalgono agli anni 1913 e 1914. Leggevo avidamente i suoi versi [ndr. Guillaume Apolinnaire] dove si parla spesso di soli e di stelle. Nello stesso tempo, per una deviazione del pensiero che mi è familiare e il cui riflesso si esprime spesso nei miei quadri, pensavo all’Italia, alle sue città e alle sue rovine. Ben presto, per me, per una di quelle illuminazioni che all’improvviso fanno scoprire a portata di mano l’oggetto di cui si sogna, i soli e le stelle ritornavano sulla terra come dei pacifici emigranti. […] Era forse irragionevole da parte mia di basare sulla fantasia del mio spirito e sullo stato delle mie visioni le litografie destinate ad accompagnare le gamme poetiche con cui Apolinnaire giocò da vero visionario?” (Giorgio De Chirico, dicembre 1931)
During the neometaphysic period between the Sixties and the Seventies, Giorgio De Chirico realized a series of masterpieces in which the iconography went back up to the end of the Twenties. In 1929 indeed, De Chirico produced 66 lithographic illustrations for the luxury edition of Guillaume Apollinaire’s Calligrammes printed in 1930. Inspired by the poet’s eclecticism and visionarism Giorgio De Chirico started to follow the Heraclitus’s spirit, motor of his imagination, which let him abandon, temporarily, the former themes in order to invent a new reality made by waterfalls, clouds, suns and moons.
In Sole sorgente e sole spento, Giorgio De Chirico formulate a new language, with a naif style, universally understandable, an iconic space made of ruins and brick walls, which give testimony of an immortal civility impressed in the memory. Thanks to the connection between the ancient and classic world with the contemporary iconography, Giorgio De Chirico realised an immortal work of art. The wall at the centre of the composition hides the figure of the sun while a dark sun is on the foreground. As a chiasm the dark moon flows in the sky, while the illuminated one sleeps at the opposite side. The four subjects are connected one to another between by cables hidden by the wall: this image that suggests the tacit, although evident, dialectic relationship between life and death. This peaceful and disquieting, playful and gloomy masterpiece is a testimony of metaphysic De Chirico at the peak of his career.
“… the memories of 1913 th and 1914th inspired me. I constantly used to read his poetries (Guillaume Apolinnaire) in which he often talk about suns and stars. In the mean time I used to think about Italy with its cities and ruins. Soon, for me, for a sort of illumination that suddenly let you find the object of your dreams, the suns and the stars were coming back on earth as pacific emigrants. […] Was it stupid to base the litographies for Apollinaire’s visionary poems on my fantasy and visions?” (Giorgio De Chirico, Dicember 1931)