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Ariadne

Giorgio de Chirico Italian, born Greece
1913
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 908
A statue of a slumbering Ariadne is in the foreground of this image of a desolate public square, rendered in de Chirico’s distinctive simple and broad forms. According to the Greek myth, Theseus abandoned his lover Ariadne on the island of Naxos while she slept. Ariadne acquired great personal symbolic meaning for de Chirico after he moved to Paris in 1911 and entered a period of isolation and loneliness. A dreamy escape into the classical past, the painting also serves as a retreat into de Chirico’s memories of his childhood in Greece.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ariadne
  • Artist: Giorgio de Chirico (Italian (born Greece), Vólos 1888–1978 Rome)
  • Date: 1913
  • Medium: Oil and graphite on canvas
  • Dimensions: 53 1/4 in. × 71 in. (135.3 × 180.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Florene M. Schoenborn, 1995
  • Object Number: 1996.403.10
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

Audio

Cover Image for 1835. Ariadne

1835. Ariadne

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