Alberto Savinio

The Profile

Alberto Savinio (born Andrea Francesco Alberto de Chirico, 1891–1952) was an Italian writer, painter, composer and critic. Born in Athens and active in Parisian avant-garde circles, he produced experimental multilingual writings and artworks associated with metaphysical atmospheres. He was the younger brother of Giorgio de Chirico.

Publicly verifiable facts: born Andrea Francesco Alberto de Chirico in Athens (1891), died 1952; younger brother of Giorgio de Chirico; active as writer, painter, composer and critic; linked to the Paris avant-garde (friends with Apollinaire, Cocteau, Max Jacob as noted in contemporary accounts); debut musical work Les Chants de la Mi-mort performed in 1914; Hermaphrodito (first book publication) mixes narrative, mythological references and multilingual experimentation; later associated with metaphysical poetics and cited by figures such as André Breton as influential for surrealist currents.

The reviews present Alberto Savinio as a multifaceted early-20th-century artist — writer, painter, composer and critic — whose debut Hermaphrodito is experimental, multilingual and difficult but influential. Critics appreciate his links to the Paris avant-garde and metaphysical atmospheres while noting excess and youthful exuberance. The work mixes myth, autobiography and formal experimentation.