The Red Tower Essay

Giorgio de Chirico’s painting The Red Tower shows an urbanscape of the typical Italian square with the traditional arcades in shade bordered on both sides, the mysterious box object at the front, the warrior statue with elongated shadow being cut off at the right, the huge red tower at the distant centre, and the farms with natural landscape behind in the background. The whole painting is in dark tone, with only light in the centre focusing viewer’s attention on the red tower and the sculpture. The absence of event and human activities in the piazza creates the unreal atmosphere of uneasiness and eternity, as if the whole world turns to be a silent and vacant space in dream.
The painting represents a typical de Chirico’s metaphysical work with …show more content…
The feeling of calm, which is brought by the deep dark colour tone and the painted still scene, coexists with the feeling of anxiety, which is ironically formed by the same elements in the painting. The simplified and quiet scenery of Italian town creates a paradox of peaceful but threatening impression, which is caused by the distorted connection between the real and the unreal. The painting also captures the moment of present and permanence, with the strong contrast between the presence of manmade objects and the absence of human itself. The giant red tower and the surrounding farms seem to exist in the present, and however, the lack of human activity appears to turn the whole entity into monument that is everlasting and unchanging. The mood of depression and sadness overflows from the painting silently, with the incapability of controlling time and space, as well as the uncontrollable disappearance of the present. De Chirico seizes the invisible appearance of the objects, and demonstrates the undetectable abstraction with the innovative metaphysical forms. The dream world is therefore realized and perceived by consciousness in the real