The Tangency of the World to Itself

The Casa Malaparte is the best-known example of a building designed in the ambit of the original group of Surrealists, those established in France by André Breton in the 1920s. During the villa’s inception and construction, client/architect Curzio Malaparte edited an issue of an avant-garde journal on the topic of Surrealism. Included were works by French Surrealists, like Breton and Paul Éluard, as well as works by members of the Italian Metaphysical School such as Giorgio de Chirico and Alberto Savinio. ¹ Images and ideas of the Surrealists must have commingled in Malaparte’s mind with his vision of the house. He probably even discussed the project with Surrealist artists featured in the journal. Not only do paintings by Savinio hang in the Casa Malaparte, but Savinio even designed ceramic tiles for the floor. Thus immersed in the culture of Surrealism, Malaparte absorbed, transformed and adumbrated a kindred sensibility in his house.