Galleria Fiorentina d'Arte, Florence
Acquired from the above in 1969

Work is in very good condition. Canvas is not lined. Some very minor cracking in sky. Under UV light: there is a pindot of inpainting just to the right of the figure near the center of the composition, otherwise fine.
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Le Muse inquietanti is one of de Chirico's most well-known images, based on an earlier work that marked the pinnacle of his exploration of Metaphysical art.  The first version of this composition, painted in 1917, was proclaimed by James Thrall Soby to be possibly 'the greatest painting of de Chirico's entire career.'  The present work marks the artist's return to his most iconic imagery later in life, in what is now known as his New Metaphysical Period, and was inspired by the scenery of Ferrara, where de Chirico moved in 1915.  In his autobiography, the artist wrote: "The appearance of Ferrara, one of the loveliest cities in Italy, has made a deep impression on me, but what struck me above all and inspired me from the metaphysical point of view in which I was working, was the appearance of certain interiors in Ferrara, certain window displays, certain shops, certain houses, certain quarters" (Giorgio de Chirico, Memorie della mia vita, Rome, 1945, pp. 122-123).

As with many of his paintings, Le Muse inquietanti  underscores de Chirico's idea of time versus stillness, as he invested this composition with a suspended narrative, simultaneously infusing the painting with both a sense of unknown mystery and a familiar, nostalgic quality. Le Muse inquietanti  visibly embodies Surrealist credo, as de Chirico himself said: "What I hear is worth nothing; there is only what I see with my eyes open and, even more, what I see with them closed" (André Breton, Le surréalisme et la peinture, Paris, 1928, p. 38).  Also evident here is the influence of Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin on de Chirico's artistic trajectory. Like Böcklin, de Chirico's painting reveals the importance of classical myth while possessing an element of symbolic romanticism. As de Chirico himself commented: "[My art is a] frightening astuteness, it returns from beyond unexplored horizons to fix itself in metaphysical eternity, in the terrible solitude of an inexplicable lyricism..."(quoted in P. Baldacci,De Chirico, The Metaphysical Period 1888-1919, Milan, 1997, no. 114, p. 326).

Le Muse inquietanti is painted in a palette primarily of warm tones and is rendered in boldly distilled and modern forms.  The background of the present work is dominated by the Castello Estense in Ferrara (see fig. 1); its striking red 14^th century façade is echoed by a dark portico on the right, its Renaissance-style arches are accentuated by the shadowed recesses.  The age of antiquity is anchored by the castello and its flanking architecture on the right-hand side of the composition.  In subtle contrast, the industrial age is heralded with the addition of smoke stacks atop t🦄he factory on the left side of the horizon line.  The theatrical appearance of mannequin-like sculptures emerging from Classical architectural elements that are surrounded by mathematically-derived objects combine to create an unsettling feeling that is so particular to de Chirico's oeuvre.  By juxtaposing familiar images of everyday life with imaginary human-like figures, de Chirico creates an alternative, mysterious reality which inhabits the viewer's unconscious mind rather than projecting a lucid interpretation of our known world.