Galileo Chini left his homeland once he finished the decorative painting for the Tuscan Pavilion and the Pavilion of the Festivity at the Rome International Expo (June 1911), meant for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Italian Kingdom. At the end of August of the same year, he headed for Siam aboard a German liner, named Derflinger, passing through the ocean en route to his destination in the East. All he knew about this land was by means of pictures and stories recounted in the West. “The beauty and grandeur from this journey was truly beyond my expectation. A little adventure, though unexpected, has since lingered within my heart.” Like most European travelers of his time, he considered a voyage to the East aboard a large ship. An adventure and discovery of new opportunities in life. The Indian Ocean, in the midst of the route linking Europe and Far East Asia at that time, appeared to be full of life and colorful.
Following the opening of Suez Canal in 1869, large ships as Sachsen, Derfligner, and Prinzess Alice sailed across the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, passing through Arabian water entering the Indian Ocean, en route to the Far East, where China and Japan were located. On this transoceanic route, these ships would make a number of stops to transport goods and transfer passengers at the following portal cities: Port Said, Suez, Aden, Colombo, Penang and Singapore, respectively. At this last stop, Singapore, passengers bound for Siamese waters should transship to a steamer, called Delhi, which connected Singapore and the delta of Chao Phraya River, and then embark on a small ship so as to enter the city of Bangkok. In that period, a sea journey from Italy to Bangkok could take 26-27 days. In spite of traveling a long distance, it was indeed comfortable, as Galileo Chini recalled “I wasn’t sure if I was in the middle of the sea or in the Grand Hotel.” It was the first time he crossed the ocean to go to the East.
“Aboard I caught sight of coasts, archipelagos, straits and the tip of the fatherland which, little by little, disappeared beneath the mist of the sea. It was virtually impossible to describe it in words. Within our minds, the fatherland and the family seamlessly merged into one.”
It seems like, throughout his first journey to Siam, Galileo Chini did not have a chance to go ashore to visit main portal cities such as: Naples, Port Said, Suez and Aden, owing to a cholera epidemic at that time. After having lived in Siam for a time, Chini asked for permission to return home for a visit in mid 1912. During the subsequent journey, as a passenger on the Prinzess Alice he would at last have the chance to tread on lands of different culture en route. “…When we disembarked it was already dusk. The plenilune shed a luminous glow, smoothing its brilliance onto the distinctly structured special white walls, turning them into the slivery shade. The moonlight reflected on beautiful flora emitting sparking emerald flecks.” Galileo Chini’s description of Colombo, found in his “Memories of Siam” memoir, was as beautiful as that of “A Thousand and One Nights”.
Lohapon, Neungreudee. “‘Galileo Chini, the Painter’ and Siam”, in Lohapon, Neungreudee. Galileo Chini: Painter of Two Kingdoms. Bangkok: Amarin Printing & Publishing, 2012.
