About the artworkSigmund Freud’s psychodynamic theories and ideas on the subconscious were an early influence on Giorgio de Chirico. If the artist succeeded in liberating itself from all human limits and defying logic and common sense, the art could reach the realm of childhood, visions and dreams. In the 1910s, De Chirico painted ominous urban landscapes with heavily warped perspectives. The man with his eye closed in The Child’s Brain is one of the father figures that began to make their appearance in de Chirico’s paintings after his father’s premature death in 1905. The red ribbon between the pages in the book links the viewer, who is in the position of the painter, to the dead father. A thin but opaque curtain cuts through the pictorial space, as if to mark a distance and inability to make contact. Moderna Museet acquired this work from the surrealist leader and poet André Breton in connection with the exhibition The Museum of Our Wishes in 1964. All the surrealists had seen the painting in Breton’s home, and it had made a crucial impression on many of them. What they saw was a surrealist image created ten years before the first surrealist manifesto was written. Signatures, inscriptions and marks På baksidan franska etiketter Selected exhibition history Mästerverken åter. Verk av spanska konstnärer ur Samling S. runt den återbördade Picassos Källan. (1995) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Moderna Museets samling i ny presentation (1998-2000) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Supersurrealismen (den 29 september 2012 - den 27 januari 2013) Moderna Museet Malmö Ny presentation av samlingen (2000-2002) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Surrealism? (1970) Göteborgs Konsthall Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Den underjordiska himlen. Surrealism i Moderna Museets samling (den 26 oktober 2024 - den 17 januari 2027) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Mästerverken åter! Moderna Museet, Spårvagnshallarna : [6 maj - 27 augusti 1995]The Masterpieces are back! : Moderna Museet, Spårvagnshallarna : [May 6th - August 27th 1995]De Ou Par Marcel Duchamp : Par Ulf Linde : [Moderna Museet Stockholm/Konstakademien 29/9-13/11 2011]Surrealism? : [Moderna Museet, Stockholm : 6 mars - 12 april 1970] Bibliography Lebel, Robert, André Breton et la peinture, L'Oeil, nr 143 1966, ill. s 19. L'Arte Moderna, vol. VII, Milano 1967, s 60. Vovelle, José, Le surrealisme en Belgique, André de Rache éditeur Bryssel 1972, ill. s 30. Bruni, Claudio, Catalogo Generale Giorgio de Chirico, volume secondo, Electa Editrice, Roma 1972, ill. nr 106. Kat. Moderna Museet på Louisiana, Louisiana Revy årg. 15, nr 4 jan-juni 1975, kat.nr 12, ill.(färg) s 16. L'opera completa di De Chirico, Classici dell'Arte, Rizzoli Editore, Milano 1984, ill. (färg) tav. XVII, ill. nr 55, s 88. 25 great masters of modern art. Vol. 25, De Chirico, Nakahara, Yusuke och Sasamoto, Takashi, ill (färg) nr 11, ill. s 112. Spies, Werner, Max Ernst: A Retrospective, München 1991, s 351f. Crosland, Margaret, The Enigma of Giorgio de Chirico, London 1999, s 11, 48, 113. von Maur, Karin, Yves Tanguy und der Surrealismus, Stuttgart 2000, s 12. Le Bihan, Mabin och Sawin, Yves Tanguy, Quimper 2001, s 234. Schmied, Wieland, Der kühle Blick: Realismus der zwanziger Jahre, München 2001, ill. Roos, Gerd och Baldacci, Paolo, De Chirico, Rom 2007.

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