Paul Delvaux was a Belgian painter noted for his dream-like scenes of women, classical architecture, trains and train stations, and skeletons, often in combination. He is often considered a surrealist, although he only briefly identified with the Surrealist movement. He was influenced by the works of Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte, but developed his own fantastical subjects and hyper-realistic styling, combining the detailed classical beauty of academic painting with the bizarre juxtapositions of surrealism.
Paul Delvaux signing autographs (1972), Brussels, Belgium
The 1960 mural La Genèse ("Genesis") in Liège
The Paul Delvaux Museum in Saint-Idesbald, Belgium
Delvaux collaborated on this 1978 mural depicting old-fashioned trams and their passengers in the Bourse-Beurs Brussels Metro station
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His best-known works often feature Roman arcades, long shadows, mannequins, trains, and illogical perspective. His imagery reflects his affinity for the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and of Friedrich Nietzsche, and for the mythology of his birthplace.
Photograph of Chirico by Carl Van Vechten in 1936
The Song of Love, 1914, oil on canvas, 73 × 59.1 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Le mauvais génie d'un roi (The Evil Genius of a King), 1914–15, oil on canvas, 61 × 50.2 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Seer, 1914–15, oil on canvas, 89.6 × 70.1 cm, Museum of Modern Art