Self-Portrait

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Self-Portrait

Artist Giorgio de Chirico Italian (born Greece), 1888-1978

Dateabout 1922

DimensionsPainting: 15 1/8 × 20 1/8 in. (38.4 × 51.1 cm)
Frame: 21 1/2 × 26 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (54.6 × 67.3 × 8.9 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1930.204

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesGodwin, Blake-More, Catalogue of European Paintings, Toledo, 1939, p. 264, repr. p. 265.

Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture from 1910-1930 (7th Quadriennale Nazionale d'arte de Roma), Rome, De Luca, 1956, p. 81.

Baker, Rachel, All About Art, New Haven, 1971, repr. p. 3.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 36-37, pl. 41.

Micha, Rene, "Lettre de Paris: Les Réalismes entre les deux guerres," Art International, vol. 24, no. 7-8, Mar.-Apr. 1981, p. 34, repr.

Sullivan, Scott, "Realism Fights Back," Newsweek, Jan. 19, 1981, repr. p. 90 (col.).

Nochlin, Linda, "Return to Order," Art in America, vol. 69, no. 7, Sept. 1981, p. 209, repr. p. 83.

Clair, Jean, "Sous le signe de Saturne," Cahiers du Musée National d'Art Moderne, no. 7/8, 1981, p. 192, repr. fig. 20, p. 193.

Baratta, Gino, "Savinio, De Pisis, Bontempelli," Cahiers du Musée National d'Art Moderne, no. 7/8, 1981, repr. p. 255.

Giorgio de Chirico 1888-1978, Rome, 1982, vol. I, p. 90.

[Sutton, Denys], "Editorial: Censoring De Chirico?" Apollo, vol. 116, no. 245, July 1982, p. 4, repr. fig. 1, p. 2.

Rubin, W. ed., Di Chirico Essays, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1982, repr. (col.) pl. 87.

Galbiati, Ambrogio, "Note sur l'ombre," Cahiers du Musée National d'Art Moderne, no. 11, 1983, repr. p. 61.

Fagiolo dell 'Arco, Maurizio, L'opera completa di De Chirico, Milan, 1984, no. 151, p. 105-106, repr. and (col.) pl. 39.

Fagiolo dell'Arco, Maurizio, "De Chircio al tempo di 'Valori Plastici,' note iconografiche e documenti inediti," in Scritti di storia dell'arte in onore di Federico Zeri, Milan, 1984, vol. 2, p. 906, p. 918 [as about 1920].

Schmied, Wieland, "Der Maler, der sich selbst ein Rätsel blieb," Art, Das Kunstmagazin, no. 7, July 1988, repr. p. 35 (col.) and cover (col.).

Braun, Emily and Alberto Asor Rosa, Italian Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture, 1900-1988, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1989, no. 68, p. 68, repr. (col.) p. 193.

Alley, Ronald, "Italian Art in the Twentieth Century: an English and an Italian Critique," Apollo, vol. 129, no. 325, March 1989, repr. p. 197.

Feaver, William, "Italian Art in the 20th Century: Chauvinism and Chic," Art News, vol. 88, no. 5, May 1989, repr. p. 141.

Foss, Brian, "Memory and Modernity: Italian Art in the Twentieth Century," Etc. Montreal, no. 8, Eté 1989, repr. p. 57.

Kohlmeyer, Agnes, "Interview: Norman Rosenthal," Contemporanea, vol. 2, no.2, March/April 1989, repr. (col.) p. 77 (det.).

Maiorino, Giancarlo, The Portrait of Eccentricity: Archimboldo and the Mmannerist Grotesque, University Park, 1991, p. 104-105, fig. 26, p. 106.

Atkins, Robert, Artspoke: a Guide to Modern Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1848-1944, New York, 1993, repr. p. 32 (col.).

Hidden Faces: Hidden Portraits: the Scientific Examination of Works of Art, Tokyo, 1993, fig. 32, p. 26 [text in Japanese].

Schmied, Widland, "Pictor classicus sum?" in Canto d'Amore: Classicism in Modern Art and Music, 1914-1935, Basel, 1996, p. 111, fig. 7 [not in exhibition].

Pozzi, Gianni, Chagall: le peintre du rêve, Paris, 1997, repr. p. 33 (col.).

Joachimides, Christos M. et al, The Age of Modernism: Art in the 20th Century, Berlin, Zeitgeist-Gesellschaft, 1997, cat. 96, repr. (col.).

Boatto, Alberto, Narciso infranto: l'autoritratto moderno da Goya a Warhol, Roma-Bari, 1998, p. 116-117, fig. 48 (col.).

Weitman, Pascal, "Der freie Geist der Melancholie de Chirico, antike Plastik und Nietzche," Pegasus (Berliner Beiträge zum Nachleben der Antike), Heft 2, 2000, p. 128, 140, n. 42, abb. 10, p. 131.

Lomas, David, The Haunted Self: Surrealism, Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, New Haven, Yale, 2000, p. 179-180, fig. 103.

Baldacci, Paolo, Die andere Modern: De Chirico/Savino, Ostfildern-Ruit : Hatje Cantz, 2001, no. 83, repr. p. 274 (col.).

Taylor, Michael, Giorgio de Chirico and the Myth of Ariadne, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002, no. 28, p. 118, 125, n. 7, pl. 28 (col.), p. 128.

Mélancolie: génie et folie en Occident, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 2005, p. 445, fig. 3.

Holzhey, Magdalena, Giorgio de Chirico 1888-1978: the Modern Myth, Köln, Taschen, 2005, p. 62, repr. p. 64/65 (col.).

Bond, Anthony et al., Self Portrait, Renaissance to Contemporary, London, National Portrait Gallery, 2005, no. 39, pp. 163, 168, repr. (col.). p. 162.

Giorgio de Chirico: la fabrique des reves, Paris, Paris musees, 2009, no. 105, p. 332, repr. (col.) p. 207.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 309, repr. (col.).

Silver, Kenneth E., Chaos & Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918-1936, New York, Guggenheim Museum, 2010, p. 16, fig. 2 (col.) (not in exhibition).

Jehlen, Myra, "On How, to Become Knowledge, Cognition Needs Beauty", Raritan: A Quarterly Review, vol. XXIX, no. 4 (Spring 2010), p. 44, repr. (col.) p. 45.

Green, Christopher, et al., Modern Antiquity: Picasso, de Chirico, Léger, and Picabia, Los Angeles, Getty Publications, 2011, pl. 28, p. 23, 68-69, repr. (col.) p. 83.

Exhibition HistoryIowa City, Iowa State University, Figure Paintings, 1936.

Toledo Museum of Art, Portraits and Portraiture Throughout the Ages, 1937, no. 52.

Toledo Museum of Art, Contemporary Movements in European Painting, 1938, no. 19.

Toledo Museum of Art and Toronto Art Gallery, Two Cities Collect, 1948, no. 6, repr.

Dayton Art Institute, The Artist and His Family, 1950.

Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Chagall and Chirico, 1955, no. 21, repr.

Rome, Palazzo dei Esposizioni, VII quadriennale nazionale de'arte di Roma, 1955, p. 58, no. 72 (as 1922).

Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou; Berlin, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Les Realismus: 1919-1939, 1981.

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Di Chirico, 1982.

London, Royal Academy of Arts, Italian Art in the 20th Century, Jan. 14-Apr. 9, 1989.

Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, The Age of Modernism - Art in the 20th Century, May 7-Jul. 27, 1997.

Dusseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein - Westfalen; Munich, Lenbach haus, Die andere Modern: De Chirico/Savino, 2001-2002.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Giorgio de Chirico and the myth of Ariadne, Nov. 3, 2002-Jan. 5, 2003.

London, National Portrait Gallery, Self Portrait, Renaissance to Contemporary, October 20, 2005 - January 29, 2006.

Paris, Musee d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Giorgio de Chirico: la fabrique des reves, Feb. 13-May 24, 2009, no. 105.

Toledo Museum of Art, Speaking Visual: Learning the Language of Art, Oct. 31, 2014-Jan. 25, 2015.

Tokyo, Japan, Metropolitan Art Museum; Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Giorgio de Chirico: Metaphysical Journey, Apr. 27 - Dec 8, 2024.

Label TextTwo faces—one painted as a marble statue, one as flesh and blood—face each other, presenting the viewer with their profiles. Both bear the features of the artist Giorgio de Chirico. While the marble bust seems to stare at its counterpart, the figure on the right gazes out at the viewer. The Latin inscription, se ipsum, in the lower right corner under De Chirico’s signature, translates as “himself” or “itself.” The phrase emphasizes both the intimacy of the naturalistic self-portrait and the cold “otherness” of the self in marble. Eager to link himself to the classical past that he found inspiration in, De Chirico had frequently included statuary in his previous compositions. In addition, the lemon on the ledge of this painting seems to reference ancient Roman fresco paintings. The choice to present himself in chiseled marble, however, is a departure from his earlier work, as is the tightly cropped composition. The imposing, empty cityscape glimpsed through the window is an element common to De Chirico’s pictorial style, which he described as “metaphysical” to indicate that his works express meanings beyond physical appearances.