VALENCIA, SPAIN.- Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM) presents The century of Giorgio de Chirico. Metaphysics and Architecture, on view through February 17th, 2008. The exhibition The Century of Giorgio De Chirico. Metaphysics and Architecture inquires into the close relation between Giorgio De Chirico's paintings (Bolos, Greece, 1888 – Rome, 1978) and 20th century architecture. It is the first exhibition devoted to this theme in Spain and featuring a number of art works, never exhibited before in our country, by the founder of the artistic movement named scuola metafisica. The exhibition catalogue contains images of the works exhibited and includes texts by Paolo Picozza, Giuseppe Montesano, Elio Franzini, Joseph Rykwert, Ada Masoero, Renato Barilli, Antonio Riccardi, Paolo Portoghesi, Luca Molinari, Francisco Jarauta, Gianni Contessi, Franco Purini, Lucia Presilla, Elena Manzo, Anna Luigia De Simone, Consuelo Ciscar, director of the IVAM and Vincenzo Trione, curator of the exhibition. It also contains an anthology of Giorgio De Chirico's texts and a selection of texts on him written by some architects.

The exhibition is divided into three parts, the first of which is named "De Chirico and Architecture" and presents a selection of 60 paintings organized in two sections. The first one, "The Metaphysics", contains the artist's early metaphysical paintings ranging from 1911 to 1920; these works are characterized by being away from the hustle and bustle and the startling metropolitan landscapes typical of the Futurist world. The second section, "Renewed Metaphysics", shows the artist's paintings ranging from the 20's to his maturity period in the 70's and are focused on architectural and urban development motifs. This first part of the exhibition includes a series of documentary films in which De Chirico talks about his work, with contributions of, for instance, film directors such as Billy Wilder and Orson Welles.

The second part of the show, "Architecture and De Chirico", presents different architectural materials inspired by the set of images characterizing the metaphysical painting of the artist. This part of the exhibition brings together about 200 works composed by photographs, models, sketches and drawings by the architects Adalberto Libera, Giovanni Muzio, Giuseppe Terragni, Gino Pollini, Dimitris Pikionis, Alberto Sartoris, Aldo Rossi, Rodolfo Machado or Jorge Silvetti, among them a piece by the prominent Italian architect and artist Massimiliano Fuksas never exhibited before.

The third and last part of the exhibition displays 16 photographs by Gabriele Basilico (Milan, 1944) that depict spaces and buildings related to De Chirico's life and work, such as The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome, the newly built towns in Agro Pontino, the Modena graveyard of Fotivegge in Perugia. Trained as architect, but actually working as photographer, Basilico is one of the most acknowledged creators in the international scene thanks to his research on urban landscapes.