A vast showcase offers a closer look at the works of famous Swiss artists of the 20th century, spanning sculptures, paintings, graphics and drawings.
advertisementAlberto Giacometti’s fame is due to him sculpture.
He is considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century. most expensive Sculptures that have been auctioned so far include: The Pointing Man, which sold for more than $141 million (€131,000) in 2015;
However, the scope of Giacometti’s art is much wider than that.
“He was primarily a sculptor, but he also painted, and he painted a lot,” says chief curator Thomas Raderboll Pedersen. It was a painting, and it was also something that was depicted in his works at the time. ”
Around 90 of his works are on display in the new exhibition “What Meets the Eye” at the Danish National Gallery SMK in collaboration with the Giacometti Foundation in Paris.
Visitors can experience some of Giacometti’s most popular masterpieces, including “The Nose” (1947), “The Cage” (1950-1951) and “The Walking Man” (1960). There are also many lesser-known works that are rarely shown to the public.
Together they provide a unique insight into how Giacometti, who died in 1966 at the age of 64, shaped his approach.
Giacometti’s artistic evolution: from surrealism to physical reality
“Andre Breton (French writer and poet) is quoted as saying, “But everyone knows what a head looks like.” “And in fact, that was a great challenge for Giacometti from that time on.” He didn’t know what a head looked like,” says Lederbare Pedersen, the exhibition’s chief curator.
“He doesn’t know what a figure looks like, but he tries to get to the essence of what you see when you look at something. What visually constitutes a figure when you look at it. Do we recognize humans as people and humans as humans?”
The exhibition begins in the 1920s and 1930s, a period that left a decisive mark on Giacometti’s art. In 1934, he turned away from the Surrealist fascination with the human interior and became interested instead in physical reality.
“In the mid-1930s, he decided to study the human figure,” explains Emilie Bouvard, director of the collections and scientific program at the Giacometti Foundation in Paris.
“I don’t really know why. On a psychological level, I have to say that his father had just passed away and his father was a post-impressionist painter who was interested in the representation of the world. . So maybe it was due to the psychological aspect.”
World War II and its impact
During World War II, Giacometti was unable to return to his studio in occupied Paris and was evacuated to Switzerland. “He lived in occupied Paris for about a year, and then he wanted to see his mother, because he had a very strong connection with her,” Bouvard explains. .
“So he went to Switzerland and couldn’t come back after that. I mean, his studio, all his work. I mean, everything he did for 20 years was in Paris and he couldn’t come back. It was.”
From 1941, Giacometti came into contact with thinkers including French philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Philosophical questions about the human condition began to play a central role in his art.
later Second World War, he entered a period of great productivity, creating some of his most famous sculptures. “He’s trying to get to the bottom of things,” Pedersen explains.
“In a very specific sense, the highly reduced figures and slim forms in his work have to do with the fact that they are essential. In a sense, they are human. It has been reduced to its essential form.”
“Alberto Giacometti – What the Eye Meets” will be on view at the Danish National Gallery, Statens Museum (SMK) until May 20th.
video editor • Theo Farrant