The Eventuality of Destiny

The Eventuality of Destiny presents statuesque depictions of the Fates, the three goddesses of Greek mythology who personify inescapable destiny. It also exemplifies Giorgio de Chirico’s stark stylistic pivot in 1926 and 1927: He abandoned the airless piazzas of his earlier work, embraced the classical iconography of his native Greece, and began to employ a discordant color scheme of luminous tones.

The colors here—turquoise, periwinkle, and peach—are not the only elements that lend this classical scene a sense of unease. The strangeness they impart is amplified by the unusual proportions between the figures and the architecture they inhabit. In this spatially compressed composition, a single patch of blue sky relieves the claustrophobia.