The Song of Love

The Song of Love
ArtistGiorgio de Chirico
YearJune–July 1914 (June–July 1914)
Catalogue80419
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions73 cm × 59.1 cm (28+34 in × 23+38 in)
LocationMuseum of Modern Art, New York
Accession950.1979

The Song of Love (also known as Le chant d'amour or Love Song) is a 1914 painting by Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico. It is one of the most famous works by Chirico and an early example of the surrealist style, though it was painted ten years before the movement was "founded" by André Breton in 1924.

It depicts an outdoor architectural setting similar to other works by Chirico at this time. This time however, the main focus is a small wall on which is mounted a Greek sculpted head and a surgeon's glove. Below it is a green ball. On the horizon is the outline of a locomotive, an image that recurs several times during this period of Chirico's career and that has been interpreted as a symbol of de Chirico’s father, an engineer who was involved in the planning of railroad lines in Greece.[1]

  1. ^ Scott, Nancy (1988). The Mystery and Melancholy of Nineteenth Century sculpture in de Chirico's Pittura metafisica, in Psychoanalytical Perspectives on art, volume 3. The Analytic Press. p. 65.