After studying at Geneva’s School of Fine Arts, Giacometti moved to Paris in 1922, where he enrolled in Antoine Bourdelle’s studio and immersed himself in cubism, which influenced his early work. He developed a passion for ancient statuary, Egyptian in particular, as well as for African and Oceanian arts. Non-western arts helped him turn his back on sculptural relief, encouraging him to flatten out forms and employ a combination of signs to represent facial features.
He came to the notice of the surrealists in 1929 and became their travelling companion for a few years. Some of his most disturbing works date from this period, creations that might have made their way out of some threatening dream: sculptures evoking cruel, mysterious game boards, “cages” peopled with strange figures and “unpleasant objects” imbued with strong sexual connotations.

Giacometti left André Breton’s movement in 1935 and turned his attention back to the human form and portraiture, which were to remain central to his interest until his death in 1966. Friends and family, collectors, intellectuals and famous names succeeded each other in his studio. Confronted with the problems of creation, Giacometti, ever dissatisfied, was caught up in an endless struggle with his materials. Resemblance to the living sitter remained a central concern in his painted and sculpted portraits.
In order to overcome his inability to depict the sitter as he perceived him or her, he called on the help of artists and civilisations that had preceded him, paying particular attention to Ancient Egyptian statuary. Several of his most emblematic works show its influence.

After the Second World War, Giacometti developed the model human form he is best known for. Extremely elongated and fragile, men and women, motionless or captured in movement, come into being, alone or in groups.
His paintings from the 1950s and 1960s also depict ghostly figures set in a space halfway between the studio view and the world of dreams, a parallel universe where humankind survives as best it can.

General Curatorship:

Catherine Grenier, Director of the Giacometti Foundation and President of the Giacometti Institute
Sébastien Delot, Director/Curator of the LaM

Curatorship:

Christian Alandete, Artistic Director of the Giacometti Institute
Jeanne-Bathilde Lacourt, Curator responsible for modern art at the LaM