Immediately prior to World War I, the Greco-Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico created enigmatic paintings in which he used a traditional style to describe not the external world, but haunting dreamscapes infused with illogical images, bizarre spatial constructions, and a pervasive melancholic mood. He was greatly inspired by the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, who believed hidden realities were seen in such strange juxtapositions as the long shadows cast by the setting sun into large open city squares and onto public monuments. De Chirico called his art “metaphysical,” and with it hoped to destabilize the meaning of everyday objects by making them symbols of fear, alienation, and uncertainty. His paintings were highly influential for the Surrealists a decade later in their effort to create art from the unconscious. Andromache refers to the beautiful and loyal wife of Hector, the Trojan warrior slain by Achilles in the Iliad. Here Andromache stands, reduced to simple ovoids, alone in a quiet, almost airless Italian piazza, her mood reflected in the dark shadows stretching across the square. The buildings, equally simplified, frame the image, lending it an almost stage-like quality.