The Serenity of the Scholar

Giorgio de Chirico · Paris, April-May 1914

This is The Serenity of the Scholar — a painting by Chirico, April-May nineteen fourteen. Charcoal — burnt wood, sitting loose on the surface, which is why so little early drawing in it survives. You can pick out the carved figure, and the portrait of a person.

Medium Oil and charcoal on canvas · Dimensions 51 1/4 x 28 1/2" (130.1 x 72.4 cm) · Credit Gift of Sylvia Slifka in honor of Joseph Slifka

Hanging beside it in Gallery 517: Untitled from Reason of Sleep, Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale (Deux Enfants sont menacés par un rossignol)

Works like this one elsewhere in the museum: Jeannette (I), Figurines, The Jester, Le Pistolero (The Gunman), Untitled (Nomsa with Africa), Untitled

More by Giorgio de Chirico here: Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure), The Double Dream of Spring