Giorgio de Chirico (1888 – 1978) was an Italian artist and writer most famous for the eerie mood and strange artificiality of the cityscapes he painted in the 1910s. His style is characterised by haunting empty streets with multiple vanishing points, shadows and size contrasts that do not make sense. These contradictions become dreamlike/nightmarish because they conflict with the otherwise classical style – things look ‘normal’ but aren’t.
Sources
Holzhey, M. Georgio De Chirico: The Modern Myth, Koln, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, Tokyo, Taschen.