The Metaphysical still life may be understood as representing a vision of a
transcendent and nostalgic order of the world. The term "Metaphysical" here is
less philosophical or literary than art-historical, and was applied, beginning
as early as 1918, to the art made by Giorgio de Chirico, Carlo Carrà,
and Giorgio Morandi between 1913 and 1919. In Carrà’s Still Life with
Triangle, 1917, four simple objects—a bottle, a jug, a bowl, and
a drafting triangle—appear in a cell-like space colored with a monochromatic
haze, and projecting a sense of timelessness, airlessness, and closure. The use
of classical motifs and geometrically structured compositions is typical of
Metaphysical painting; in this it may be compared to works from the same period
by Matisse and Picasso, which show a similarly spiritual and idealized approach
in their organization of objects.
