The tower, along with the arches and columns, is the favorite motif of de Chirico’s creativity, inspired by addictions to the ancient art and architecture. It was also the charm that the artist experienced from the ancient and beautiful Ferrara. Most often this image appears in the works of the period 1913-1915.
This is the dominant, if not the only, theme of a series of paintings by George de Chirico, its title motive. On the canvas the master emphasizes the greatness of the structure, placing in the foreground a heavy dark architectural block. This array is contrasted with a slender, saturated terracotta-colored tower.
Vertical lines of white columns create a feeling of something colossal, almost infinite. The cylindrical form of the structure is inspired by the Turin tower of the Mole Antonellian, a symbol of the city, about which Nietzsche wrote: “This is the most ingenious structure of all built up in an all-consuming aspiration, and nothing compares to it-except my Zarathustra.”
Undoubtedly, de Chirico, developing the theme of the tower – a characteristic attribute of many cities – remembered the famous Eiffel building. He was familiar with both her images and the canvases of Robert Delaunay. When in 1915 de Chirico creates the last picture from this cycle, he introduces into it more massive geometric elements. The columns become practically invisible, thin and airy.
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