2. Origin
• It is an Italian art movement
• It was born in 1917 in Ferrara with
the work of
– Carlo Carrá
– Giorgio de Chirico
• The word metaphysical is core to the
poetic of the movement
3. Characteristics
• They depicted a dreamlike imagery
with figures and objects seemingly
frozen in time
• Artists accept the representation of
the visible world in a traditional
perspective space
4. Characteristics
• There is something strange in their
works:
– Unusual arrangement of human beings
as dummy-like models
– Objects in strange, illogical contexts
– Unreal lights and colours
– Unnatural static of still figures
5. Characteristics
• Opposite to Futurism
• They had more than a new way of
painting, only a new way of seeing
things
• They used a different logic with:
– Deserted squares
– Silent, rigidly rendered buildings
– Colonnades and shadows
6. Characteristics
– Trains passing far away in the distance
– Clocks and statues
• There is never any precise hint in
the paintings about the place or
moment of the scene.
8. Characteristics
• All that generated a new reality
which goes beyond the meaning of
the things presented
– Creating a sense of
• Expectation
• mistery
– Bonded with the unconscious mind
9. Influences
• It may appear as a reaction against
– Cubism
– Futurism
• It may seem strange that many of the
achievements of 20th century Italian
art came during the rise of Fascism
• It created the premises of Surrealism
10. Artists
• Main members of the movement
were:
– Giorgio de Chirico
– Carlo Carra
– Giorgio Morandi
– Italo Savino
– Luigi Filippo Tibertelli
– Ardengo Soffici