(Volos, Greece 1888–1978 Rome) ‘Autoritratto’ (Self-portait), circa 1930, signed G. de Chirico, title verso, signed Giorgio de Chirico, with confirmation by notary, Diego Gandolfo, Rome 6 April 1966, oil on canvas, 41 x 53 cm, framed, (PP)

This work is registered with the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico. (Confirmation available from the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Rome,16 September 2013)

Provenance: Galeotti Collection, Lucca
Galleria La Bussola, Turin (verso label)
alleria Gissi, Turin
Private Collection, Europe

Exhibition: Turin, Galleria d’Arte La Bussola, Giorgio de Chirico, 19 April - 4 May 1958;
Turin, Galleria Gissi, de Chirico degli Anni ‘20, 1964, exh. cat. with ill. on the front cover (here dated 1926)

The representation of being, in the portrait or the self-portrait, poses such questions as “who are you?” and “who am I?” In De Chirico’s oeuvre, a question also concerns the sitter’s position in space and time. By identifying the subject’s distinctive elements, the artist initiates a recognition process that sets off yet another at a deeper level: the search for an identity and the link between physiognomy, expression and being itself. De Chirico pushes his investigation well beyond the traditional topic, asking questions that, despite their remaining unsolved, bring us closer to the great mystery of existence.
In 1921, when explaining the function of the spatial set-up of the “portrait at the window”, of Renaissance origin, De Chirico writes: “That piece of world it shows us near the sitter, separated from it by a wall of visible depth, excites our mind and our thoughts, infusing the portrait - a normally rather unadventurous subject - with a sense of surprise and discovery...”
(Giorgio de Chirico, Reflections on ancient painting) (From the catalogue of the exhibition “Giorgio de Chirico - IL RITRATTO - figura e forma”, Fortezza di Montepulciano, 2013)