GIORGIO DE CHIRICO HOUSE-MUSEUM


They say that Rome is at the centre of the world and that the Spanish Steps is the centre of Rome, in this case, my wife and I live in the centre of the centre of the world.

The Giorgio de Chirico House-Museum was officially opened to the public on 20th November 1998, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the artist's death.
Giorgio de Chirico's house occupies the three upper floors of the historic 17th Century Palazzetto dei Borgognoni, situated in Piazza di Spagna, Rome. Bought in 1947, the artist and his wife, Isabella Pakzswer Far, lived there from 1948 onwards, during which time they enlarged the house through additional purchases of property.
The building's facade faces Piazza di Spagna where it overlooks Gian Lorenzo Bernini's fountain as well as the everyday going-on's of the art world which, during the years when de Chirico lived there, consisted of the artist workshops on Via Margutta, galleries on Via del Babuino, and the renowned Caffè Greco on Via Condotti.
The back of the house looks onto Trinità dei Monti and Villa Medici, the gardens of which form the setting of a number of de Chirico's romantic and historical paintings.
The artist's studio is located at the top of the house, on a par with the first terrace. Even though it has large windows (which de Chirico tended to keep shut), there is a large sky-light in the ceiling which provided the room with the desired amount of light.
The studio itself is situated very close to the Roman residence of the English poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, which has now become the Keats & Shelley Museum.
A few of the plaster-cast models which de Chirico used are scattered around the studio, illuminated by the light which filters down from the glass sky-light in the roof.
The studio library contains a large systematic and rigorous collection of history of art books which touch upon the themes and key artistic periods that de Chirico studied, including 19th Century French Art, Arnold Bõcklin, Peter Paul Rubens, Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet and many others.
Whilst organizing the museum, specific scientific and philological attention was given to restoring the rooms. Furnished during the 1950's, both the rooms and the paintings have been kept in the way they were originally arranged although the Foundation's artistic heritage will be displayed on a rotational basis.