The artwork titled “The Anguish of Departure” was created by the Italian artist Giorgio De Chirico in 1914. This oil on canvas painting is a notable work from the Metaphysical art movement, encapsulating an evocative cityscape genre. The piece measures 85 by 69 centimeters and is currently housed at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, USA. De Chirico painted this enigmatic work while he was residing in Paris, France.
“The Anguish of Departure” exudes a haunting, dreamlike atmosphere characteristic of De Chirico’s Metaphysical style. The composition features stark architectural forms with long shadows cast across an empty space, evoking feelings of solitude and mystery. A solitary train compartment sits in the foreground, rendered in bright yellow with its shadows contributing to the scene’s sense of desolation. Dominating the background is a monumental, red-brown smokestack that pierces the sky, paired with a building displaying dark, unfilled archways that create a dialogue with the absent human presence. In the distance, a small puff of smoke rises, possibly from a train outside of the frame. The emptiness and scale of the structures in the artwork, alongside the use of sharp lines and a limited palette, contribute to an overall mood of melancholy and introspection. The vast, open expanse and architectural forms combine to create a feeling of otherworldliness, as if the scene is suspended in time or exists in an alternate dimension.
