The Mysterious Baths Fountain

Placed in the park in 1973 as part of the “Art-City Contact” project for Milan’s XV Triennale, the “Mysterious Baths” is considered to be Giorgio De Chirico's greatest sculpture. Made from Vicenza stone, the installation is composed of eight elements placed in a large sinuous pool. Part of the floor of the pool, in yellow ochre, is decorated with a parquet motif that recalls the movement of waves. Highly glossed parquets that reflect people's legs was suggestive to De Chirico of water, prompting the analogy that is at the heart of the fountains design. The representation of enigmatic characters immersed in water is a theme that was dear to the artist and one that he would come back to repeatedly during his career. Upon its restoration, the original sculptures of the two swimmers and the fish were substituted by copies and moved to the Museum of the Twentieth Century, in Milan.