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Artwork · 1914 · Allegorical painting

The Song of Love

Giorgio de Chirico
1914 · Oil on Canvas
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
★ 7.8 editorial score

Against a shadowed arcade, a classical marble head, a large red rubber glove, and a green ball hang side by side, a small train puffing in the distance - utterly unrelated objects assembled into a haunting, inexplicable poetry. Giorgio de Chirico juxtaposes the ancient, the everyday, and the industrial with deadpan precision and dream-logic. Now in the Museum of Modern Art, the Song of Love is a key 'metaphysical' painting and a direct inspiration to the Surrealists - the shock of the irrational meeting, the sense that ordinary things, strangely combined, can open onto mystery.

Movement
Surrealism

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Quote · 1550

“The contours of its legs are extremely beautiful, along with the splendid articulations and grace of its flanks, a sweeter and more graceful pose has never been seen that could equal it, nor have feet, hands, and a head ever been produced which so well match all the other parts of the body in skill of workmanship or design. To be sure, anyone who sees the statue need not be concerned with seeing any other piece of sculpture done in our times or in any other period by any other artist.”

Giorgio Vasari