+ Expand
Notes:
PROVENANCE:
Léonce Rosenberg, n.8929, Paris
Private Collection, New York
Private Collection, Europe
EXHIBITED:
1986-1987 Verona. Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Palazzo Forti
de Chirico, Gli Anni Venti p. 160
2003 Varese. Villa Panza Giorgio de Chirico, Gladiatori 1927-1929 4 October to 14 December
LITERATURE:
C. Bruni Sakraischik, Catalogo Generale dell'Opera di Giorgio de Chirico, opere dal 1908 e 1930. ed. Electa, Milan 1987, vol.8, n.514.
M. Fagiolo Dell'Arco and P.Baldacci, Giorgio de Chirico, Parigi 1924-1929.
ed. Daverio-Mondadori, Milan 1982, n.201, p.536.
P. Baldacci, Giorgio de Chirico, Gladiatori 1927-1929, ed. Skira. Milan 2003, n.6, p.68.
Around 1927 Giorgio de Chirico was commissioned by the collector and dealer Léonce Rosenberg to create a series of Gladiator paintings to be displayed in a 'Room of the Gladiators' specially designed for Rosenberg's Paris home. There seems to have been thirteen of these Gladiator paintings produced from 1927 to 1929. Gladiatori nell'arena must surely be one of the most dramatic and visually striking of the series.
Léonce Rosenberg originally opened his own gallery in 1910 called the Haute Epoque at 19 rue de la Baume in Paris' 8th arrondissement. By the end of 1914 he had acquired works by artists such as Picasso, Herbin and Gris. In 1918 he opened a new gallery, L'Effort Moderne, which continued in business till 1941 and became a powerful force in promoting avant-garde art. Between 1924-1927 the gallery issued the Bulletin de l'Effort Moderne which provided a forum for his views and for artists such as de Chirico. In the latter years several artists, whom Rosenberg represented defected to his brother Paul, also a dealer, including Picasso.
In the Rosenberg paintings de Chirico realised his personal vision. Whilst elements of 'meta-physicism' remain, he turned his attention to creating 'meta-historical' themes. The helmets, daggers and lances appear historically correct and reflect the research de Chirico carried out, he studied Roman sarcophagi and antique Roman paintings to ensure the details would be as authentic as possible. He had a longstanding involvement with classical culture but was able to incorporate it into Italian Modernism. In contrast his Gladiator figures appear mostly naked as if live statues or in some case as mannequins, mostly seen before in his work.
The group of figures in Gladiatori nell'arena hint at emotional and familial relationships in their interaction, especially with the contrast of the ghostly arbiter or referee and the dominant gladiator. The Roman setting of the arena is a meta-historical field of action, in which the key players are bound up in a romantic vision. It's almost as if de Chirico wanted to bring the figures directly to us in our living rooms as they don't seem that involved in their backgrounds. Perhaps de Chirico was conscious of creating them for Rosenberg's Salon where they would talk to each other, interact with each other. Whilst the themes are of battle, the pictures' effects are static rather than dynamic, lyrical rather than fierce.
Of Gladiatori nell'arena P.Baldacci states: 'This is one of the most important works, especially in its detail, of the works executed in 1927 with the theme of Gladiators. One can see clearly the arena with spectators in the terraces in the evening light. It is already twilight and one can distinguish the moon in the night sky. It appears to be one of those Roman evenings described in Hebdomeros. At the end of the spectacle, when the sun was going down and the sombre mood augmented the shadow in the arena, the scene had an odour of sawdust and sand mixed in with blood'.
'Various elements contribute to making this painting impressive, particularly the stark colouring, which contrasts with the radiant mystical figure standing on the left. It seems he is almost one of the returning figures which populated de Chirico's metaphysical paintings. To counter balance this figure, we are presented with the pose of the winning gladiator and the defeated warrior beneath his foot. The psycho-analytical component of this painting is very strong, for example we can perhaps see in the white figure to the left the ghost of a father figure. It is evident that the recent battle can be a metaphor for a conflict between brothers or even friends'.
Paolo Baldacci, Giorgio de Chirico, Gladiatori 1927-1929. ed. Skira, Milan 2003, n.6 p.68.
As well as the metaphysical and psycho-analytical elements discussed there is another important theme, an enigmatic one. This is as intriguing to today's viewer as it must have been to de Chirico's contemporaries. The victorious gladiator and the fallen one describe respectively violence and death. Paradoxically with the ghostly arbiter alongside, an element of possible reconciliation as well as paternal love is introduced. There are definitely 'two sides of the sword', as it were being explored here. De Chirico has shown himself to be a master of an enigmatic depiction. This is confirmed by a sentence painted by him on one of his works which sums it up:
Et quid amabo nisi quod aenigma est?(What shall I love, if not that which is an enigma?)
