Giorgio de Chirico (July 10, 1888 – November 20, 1978) was born in Greece, but worked in Italy as an artist. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, which profoundly influenced the Surrealists. Later he became interested in more traditional painting techniques. Working in a Neo-Classical or Neo-Baroque style, he would frequently revisit the metaphysical themes of his earlier work.