Metaphysical Interior with Biscuits (Interno metafisico con biscotti)

May 1953, one of six paintings sold by the artist, Giorgio de Chirico, to Nathan Cummings (Chicago); 1958, gifted to the University of Wisconsin–Madison; 1967, transferred to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

• Watrous, James. "A Century of Capricious Collecting 1877-1970: From the Gallery in Science Hall to the Elvehjem Museum of Art," Madison, WI: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1987. p. 17, fig. 16
• Klein, Susan. Master's Thesis in Art Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison [design for World Wide Web]. 1998
• Elvehjem Art Center. "Inaugural Exhibition: 19th & 20th Century Art from Collections of Alumni & Friends." Madison, WI: Regents of the University of Wisconsin, 1970. p. 78, no. 86
• Committee on Institutional Cooperation. "Paintings from Midwestern University Collections: Seventeenth-Twentieth Centuries." Evanston, Ill.: Committee on Institutional Cooperation, 1973. pp. 116-117, no. 46
• Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 117
• Chazen Museum of Art. "Artscene." Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December 2008. p. 3
• Picozza, Paolo and Lorenzo Canova; Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico. "Giorgio de Chirico. Catalogo Generale. Opere dal 1913 al 1975." Volume 4. Falciano: Maretti Editore, 2018. pp. 285 (illus), 504, cat. no. 1606
• Farmer, Sophia Maxine. "Giorgio de Chirico's artful deception: The story of Nathan Cummings's 'true fakes' scandal." Journal of the History of Collections, 2022. fig. 4

• Paintings from Midwestern University Collections: 17th-20th Centuries: Committee on Institutional Cooperation and Member Universities, 10/3/1973–4/27/1975
• Inaugural Exhibition: 19th & 20th Cen. Art from Collection of Alumni & Friends: Elvehjem Art Center, 9/11/1970–11/8/1970

This colorful, vertical painting depicts an interior room cluttered with a strange collection of objects. The room has orange-brown walls, a wooden plank floor, and a brown ceiling with contrasting blue beams. An open doorway in the back-left opens to a patch of vivid green. The foreground is dominated by a collection of odd objects. At the center is a tall, wooden structure comprised of various geometric shapes made of beige and brown planks angled in different directions. Intertwined with it are various mechanical-looking parts, including a curved reddish pipe, a blue cylinder, and angled wooden shapes with circular openings. A red, scroll-like object extends from the tangle of objects near the top right. A thin yellow box leans against right wall. The most prominent object is a blue, slanted stand or box with four rectangular biscuits attached to its surface: two square ones near the top and two horizonal elongated ones near the bottom. To its left stands a tall, light-colored rectangular panel with a large black loop shape drawn on it. The strong light casts long, dramatic shadows across the floor and walls, enhancing the deep, unnatural perspective. The painting is signed and dated "G. de Chirico 1916" in the bottom right corner.

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