de Chirico

"The unexpected encounter of a rubber glove, a green ball, and the head from the classical statue gives rise to one of the most compelling paintings in the history of modernist art: Giorgio de Chirico's Song of Love (1914). This uncanny image exemplifies what de Chirico called 'metaphysical' painting, which creates a disturbing sense of unreality, outside the usual logics of space and time, through the novel depiction of ordinary things. Emily Braun's essay explores the work's enigmatic motifs, showing how their roots range from the ancient culture of the Mediterranean, through the commercial scenarios de Chirico observed in the streets of Paris in the years around World War I, to the work of the avant-garde painters and poets of the time. The Song of Love continues to captivate viewers as de Chirico intended, even a century after it was made." - Back cover.