Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti – From country idyll into the pulsating world city

Alberto Giacometti had a carefree childhood. His family was comfortable, his famous father recognising his firstborn’s talent at an early age and fostering it as much as he could. From 1915 to 1919 Alberto attended boarding school in Schiers where he made friends with Lucas Lichtenhan who would later organise Alberto’s first public exhibition as head of the Basler Kunsthalle after the Second World War. Following his schooling he spent many months in Italy studying in-depth the work of Tintoretto in Venice, Giotto in Padua and in general the art of ancient Greece. Giacometti’s work had already attracted so much attention during his schooling that he could set up his own studio. In January 1922 Alberto Giacometti finally moved to Paris, which would soon become the stage for his first, still modest successes.

Alberto Giacometti as Surrealist in Paris

Alberto and his brother Diego ran an artist’s workshop in Paris where many Post-Cubic sculptures were created, before joining the Paris Surrealists, whose interest he had aroused with his “Plates”, disc-shaped figures. He returned many times to his Swiss home, visiting his family and working undisturbed in his father’s studio. It was his father’s death that drove Alberto from Surrealism to a new Naturalism, causing a complete break with his circle of friends. Following an accident, through no fault of his own, Alberto Giacometti’s movement was impaired and for a long time he required the help of a stick and crutches. This handicap, however, saved him from military service and he was able to spend most of the war years largely untroubled in Geneva. It was in his hotel room in exile there that he created many, mostly tiny, plaster figures, including the famous “Frau auf dem Wagen” (Woman on the cart).

A further change of style and the great breakthrough

After the end of the Second World War, Alberto Giacometti returned to Paris and changed his style once again to long and thin sculptures. These made him world famous and are still associated today with his name throughout the whole art world. Privately he also had luck, marrying Annette Arm, whom he had met during his stay in Geneva. International exhibitions made Giacometti world famous and his artworks brought in ever greater sums. Nevertheless, he retained his modest lifestyle, sharing most of his fortune with his wife Annette, his brother Diego and various loves.

Self-doubt and record prices

Despite all his success, Alberto Giacometti was plagued his whole artistic life with great self-doubt, which often led to the spontaneous nighttime destruction of fresh works. His artistic legacy however is enormous: when he died on 11 January 1966 in Chur, he left behind a body of work that could hardly be overlooked and which continues today to occupy a space in the most important collections and foundations.  Alberto Giacometti’s sculptures still reach record prices – in February 2010, one of his works was auctioned for 100 million dollars – and recurring exhibitions pay tribute to his extensive oeuvre.