The Giacometti Institute Opening to the Public on 21 June 2018

PRE PRESS KIT – MARCH 2018

Reconstruction of the Studio - Bust of a Seated Man (Lotar III), 1965-1966

PRESS KIT – MARCH 2018

The Giacometti Institute Will Open Its Doors on 21 June 2018

Alberto Giacometti in His Studio - Photo Ernst Scheidegger © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018

The Giacometti Foundation, Paris is pleased to announce the opening, on Thursday 21 June 2018 in Paris, of a new permanent space dedicated to exhibitions, as well as art history research and pedagogy. Chaired by Catherine Grenier, director of the Giacometti Foundation since 2014, the Giacometti Institute aims to provide new perspectives on the artist’s work and on the creative period in which it emerged.

With nearly 350 sculptures, 90 paintings, over 2 000 drawings and an equally significant collection of etchings, as well as decorative art objects, the Giacometti Foundation possesses the most richly diverse collection of Alberto Giacometti’s works in the world: a collection which it is responsible for preserving, restoring, and enhancing. The Foundation also has a remarkable archive and photography collection at its disposal, along with a reference library on modern art. This invaluable heritage has remained partly inaccessible to the public since the artist’s death in 1966. Fifty years after his death, the Giacometti Institute is now opening its doors to the public.

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A museum of an approachable size, allowing proximity with the artworks, the Giacometti Institute will also be a study centre and a place of discovery accessible to the general public.

The Giacometti Institute is at once an exhibition space, a key reference venue for the work of Giacometti and an art history research centre dedicated to modern artistic practices (1900 – 1970). The research and teaching programme is open to researchers, students, and art lovers. Conferences, seminars, and masterclasses will provide art historians and curators with a forum for presenting their work and research news.

Practical Information

Institut Giacometti 5 Rue Victor Schoelcher 75014 Paris

Visits by online reservation www.fondation-giacometti.fr/institut

Admission: 8 euros Concession ticket: 5 euros Free admission: Children under 12 / Art and Art History students / ICOM card holders / Job seekers

Tuesday 02:00 pm - 06:00 pm / from Wednesday to Sunday: 10:00 am - 06:00 pm Closed on Monday and Tuesday morning

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Reconstruction of the Studio (3D projection)

1. The Reconstruction Of The Artist’s Studio

The Giacometti Institute will permanently present an exceptional reconstruction of the studio of Alberto Giacometti, whose elements were conserved in their entirety by his widow, Annette Giacometti. Among these elements are some very fragile artworks in plaster and clay (some of which have never been shown to the public), his furniture, and the renowned murals painted by the artist. The reconstruction of Alberto Giacometti’s studio is spectacularly staged, through an ingenious architectural layout comprising tiered seating and ultra-transparent window elements, creating rare proximity with the works.

The Giacometti studio gradually became not only the world of the artist’s work, but a veritable extension of himself. Giacometti has regularly cited the essential nature of his studio, a legendary place that has remained within the collective memory as the symbol of the artistic life of the Montparnasse neighbourhood. Inseparable from the artist’s legend, the studio is necessary for an understanding of his work. The walls, covered with drawings, bore witness to the artist’s work for forty years and contain precious notes on his creative process.

The reconstruction of this site immortalised by the great photographers such as Robert Doisneau, Sabine Weiss, Gordon Parks, or Ernst Scheidegger, was made possible through extensive conservation and restoration campaigns undertaken by the Giacometti Foundation.

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In order to be faithful to the original site while responding to conservation and public display imperatives, the reconstruction of the studio required significant multi-phase work: verification and inventory of the elements conserved in the Foundation’s collection, preventive conservation studies, restoration of all of the items for display, scenography, and lighting design.

Most of the artworks, too fragile to be transported, have never been shown to the public. The permanent reconstruction of the studio will thus enable a significant part of French artistic heritage to finally become accessible.

Over seventy sculptures will be presented, mainly in plaster or bronze, and including the very last clay artworks that the artists was working on prior to his death.

Reconstruction of the Studio / Studio Mural / Giacometti’s Studio in 1965 (Photo Sabine Weiss)

2. The Exhibition Programme

An ambitious programme will present exhibitions dedicated to particular aspects of Giacometti’s work, his relationships with the artists and writers of his day, but also his influence on the upcoming generations.

Flexible and reactive, the programming will present three or four exhibitions per year of various formats and durations. They will be based on the artworks belonging to the Giacometti Foundation and significant loans.

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3. Programme

Inaugural exhibition: 21 June - 16 September 2018 THE STUDIO OF ALBERTO GIACOMETTI BY JEAN GENET

For the first time in Paris, an exhibition is dedicated to the bonds of friendship and profound admiration between Alberto Giacometti and Jean Genet who met in 1954 through Jean-Paul Sartre. Their friendship led Jean Genet, who became a model for Giacometti, to write one of the most beautiful texts among the literature on modern art, The Studio of Alberto Giacometti.

October 2018 – January 2019 ANNETTE MESSAGER

A major figure of contemporary art, Annette Messager obtained the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2005 for her installation at the French Pavilion and received the Praemium Imperiale Prize in 2016 in the sculpture category. Her work has been exhibited in the world’s greatest museums. Since the 1970s, the artist has developed installations broaching the themes of identity, the body, the condition of women, eroticism, and death. Admirative of the work and personality of Giacometti, the artist has introduced allusions to the sculptor’s work into her installations on several occasions. For the Giacometti Institute, she has devised an original programme, featuring old and new works.

Early 2019 PETER LINDBERGH

Peter Lindbergh is one of the most important fashion photographers of his generation. Born in Poland and educated in Germany, he settled in Paris in the 1970s and embarked on collaborations with major magazines. A pioneer of new realism in fashion photography, he considerably changed the standards of this genre, before expanding his palette to other themes. This exhibition will present the photographs of sculptures by Giacometti taken by Peter Lindbergh from the reserve collections of the Giacometti Foundation.

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4. The Graphic Art Cabinet

The Giacometti Institute provides access to the Giacometti Foundation’s exceptional collection, including over 5 000 drawings, lithographs, and personal notebooks by the artist, most of which have never previously been presented to the public. These artworks may be consulted by request and will feature in regular presentations and exhibitions.

5. The School of Modernities

This art history research programme will contribute to better understanding the decisive period in which Giacometti was living and working. The Institute will support and guide research on this period through a research scholarship, a collection of publications, conferences, and seminars. A reference library on modern art, including books from Alberto Giacometti’s personal library, will be available to the public.

- International art historians and curators will present new research, shedding new light on a period of modern art history, through the original study of an artist, movement, or context. These conferences will be filmed and will constitute a reference corpus, accessible at the Giacometti Institute. - A scholarship will be awarded each year to support significant contributions in the field of the history of modern art. - The Institute will publish a collection of short essays by young researchers in the field of modern art. - A reference library containing books by modern art writers and about the modern period will be available for consultation.

6. Pedagogy and Cultural Actions

The Giacometti Institute aims to develop pedagogical programmes designed for the general public, younger audiences, and community outreach. Since 2015, the foundation has initiated a pilot project in art history targeting intermediate school students, within the framework of a partnership with the Collège Giacometti de Paris. It has also developed its pedagogical expertise internationally through its exhibition projects.

A dedicated space will host school groups and other specific groups for visits and workshops designed to provide introductions to art and artistic and cultural education.

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7. Overhaul of the Website A new website for the Giacometti Foundation will accompany the opening of the Giacometti Institute. Designed by CplusR, this dynamic website will provide content that is both scientific and pedagogical, as well as continually updated information with the latest news from the Foundation and the Institute.

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Façade of 5 Rue Victor Schœlcher, 2018

8. THE VENUE

With a surface area of 350 m2, the Giacometti Institute is located at 5 Rue Victor Schœlcher in the 14th arrondissement, the Montparnasse neighbourhood where Giacometti lived and worked throughout his career. It is housed within the former studio of artist and interior designer Paul Follot, in a listed heritage building, a private mansion in art deco style, whose decors have been preserved and restored by the head architect of the Monuments Historiques, Pierre- Antoine Gatier. The renovation of the space and the scenography were entrusted to architect Pascal Grasso.

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Room 1 (3D Simulation)

9. A Renovated Historic Venue

Dating from the period of stylistic transition between art nouveau and art deco, the building was built between 1912 and 1914. Paul Follot’s studio constitutes a remarkable testimony to the Montparnasse neighbourhood, the area chosen by artists. For architect Pascal Grasso, the objectives were three-fold: respect the historic monument and give Giacometti’s work pride of place, while devising a contemporary space endowed with its own identity.

“We chose a contextual approach that consisted of retaining traces of history and transforming the constraints imposed by the existing building into assets for contemporary creation.” Pascal Grasso, architect

The architect took advantage of the different levels, allowing him to create unique perspectives and points of view and to organise a maze-like scenographic pathway in which alternating ceiling heights and competing directional flows provide different experiences.

“We created a scenographic visit dotted with surprises and events, through a contextual approach and a customised, minimalist intervention,” Pascal Grasso, architect.

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The visitors access the exhibition rooms via a patio integrated within the scenographic space thanks to a glass element created by the architect.

For Pascal Grasso and Pierre-Antoine Gatier, the rule of thumb when intervening within protected spaces was to work on “conservation of the decors”, but not on an identical restoration of existing elements. The goal was to preserve the markers of time, the historic traces, and to add the elements required for the venue’s new vocation with contemporary flair.

The renovation respects the principles of reversibility and limits the contemporary interventions, while maintaining a distance from the historic decors.

“Partitions, picture rails, pedestals, and lighting fixtures in white stand out against the historic decors and appear to float. The form of the suspended lights was inspired by the geometry of the historic ceilings that accommodate them, to make new, contemporary chandeliers that extend the historic stratification of the venue.” Pascal Grasso, architect

Rooms 2 and 3 (3D projection)

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10. 2018 Touring Exhibitions

Seoul Art Center – Hangaram Museum Alberto Giacometti until 15/04/2018

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec Alberto Giacometti Retrospective until 13/05/2018

Fondation Beyeler, Basel BACON / GIACOMETTI from 29/04 to 02/09/2018

Guggenheim Museum, New York GIACOMETTI RETROSPECTIVE from 08/06 to 12/09/2018

Musée Maillol, Paris ALBERTO GIACOMETTI. ENTRE CLASSICISME ET AVANT-GARDE from 12/09/2018 to 03/02/2019

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao GIACOMETTI RETROSPECTIVE from 19/10/2018 to 24/02/2019

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11. The Giacometti Foundation The Giacometti Foundation, Paris, is a private institution of public interest recognised by the French state (reconnue d’utilité publique), created in December 2003. Its goal is to protect, present, and communicate regarding the work of Alberto Giacometti. The Foundation is the global legatee of Annette Giacometti, the artist’s widow, and possesses the greatest collection of Alberto Giacometti’s works in the world. It includes over 350 sculptures, 90 paintings, 2 000 drawings and the equivalent amount of etchings, which the Foundation is responsible for conserving, restoring, and enhancing. The Giacometti Foundation has a remarkable archive of photographs, documentation, and correspondence from the artist. It also conserves the artist’s manuscripts and notebooks, copper plates, as well as most of Giacometti’s library: magazines, books, exhibition catalogues, newspapers, including some that became media for his annotations or drawings.

The Foundation is directed by Catherine Grenier.

The Foundation’s Missions

The Giacometti Foundation is dedicated to the conservation and dissemination of its collections (drawings, paintings, etchings, plaster and bronze casts), and showcases Alberto Giacometti’s work on the international stage.

Its activities notably include: presentation to the public of Alberto Giacometti’s work through the organisation of thematic and monographic exhibitions in French or foreign museums, the establishment of a catalogue of authentic artworks by the artist, organisation or participation in various cultural events, and the publication or participation in the publication of research into the work of Alberto Giacometti. The Foundation organises the authentication committee of artworks by the artists and defends the work in France and abroad.

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12. Bigraphies

Catherine Grenier by Peter Lindbergh

Catherine Grenier President of the Giacometti Institute and Director of the Giacometti Foundation, Paris A heritage curator and art historian, Catherine Grenier has directed the Giacometti Foundation since 2014. Former deputy director of the Musée National d'Art Moderne – Centre Pompidou, she has curated over thirty exhibitions on modern and contemporary artists. Since her arrival at the Foundation, she has organised (and co-organised) original exhibitions dedicated to Giacometti in some fifteen countries and at leading institutions such as the Tate Modern and the Guggenheim Museum of New York. She has also contributed to presenting Giacometti for the first time in countries where his work had never previously been shown, notably the Pera Museum in Istanbul, the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, the Mohammed VI Museum in Rabat, the Seoul Art Center, and the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec. She also curated the first exhibition revealing connections between Giacometti and Picasso, presented at the Musée National Picasso-Paris and at the Fire Station Doha in Qatar. She has dedicated several books to contemporary artists, such as Annette Messager, Christian Boltanski, Sophie Ristelhueber, Maurizio Cattelan, or modern artists like Salvador Dalí. She regularly publishes essays including La fin des musées ? in 2013 and La manipulation des images dans l’art contemporain published in 2014 by Éditions du Regard. She is the author of a biography on Giacometti that was recently published by Flammarion.

Pascal Grasso Architect He lives in Paris and has worked there since 2003. After working for Jean Nouvel, notably, on the Théatre de Perpignan and for agnès b on the renovation of a tower in Japan, Pascal Grasso developed his agency around remarkable projects for gallerists, collectors, and prestigious cultural institutions. He thus devised La Galerie des Galeries, the art and design exhibition space inside Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, the restaurant Nomiya, sitting on the rooftop of the Palais de Tokyo – which he designed with his brother, artist Laurent Grasso. Pascal Grasso also builds exceptional villas on remarkable sites, favouring contextual architecture and seeking pared-down lines in a minimalist style. The spaces he designs are all endowed with a strong identity and subtly blur the lines between contemporary art and architecture.

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Pierre-Antoine Gatier Chief Architect of Monuments Historiques Born in 1959, he became a DPLG architect in 1984 in Paris, after studying at the École du Louvre in 1981 and graduating in museology in 1983. In 1990, he became the chief architect of Monuments Historiques and is currently responsible for the Alpes-Maritimes and Var regions and the Chantilly Domain. In 2003, he was elected inspector general of Monuments Historiques in the Rhône-Alpes and Lorraine regions, and of France’s overseas territories. He teaches the history and restoration of reinforced concrete and the history of metal at the Centre des Hautes Études de Chaillot. He has led several missions abroad to provide his expertise: Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Pakistan, Haiti, the United States, the Congo, Croatia, Mali, and Morocco. He is a member of the Académie d'architecture, chairman of Icomos France, and the winner of the Richard Morris Hunt Fellowship. In 2017, he was in charge of renovations for the Opéra Comique.

13. Restoration Of The Paul Follot Studio

The private mansion and studio of Paul Follot, Rue Schoelcher, built between 1912-1914 with the help of Pierre Selmersheim, represents a précis of the artist’s decorative career and, in broad terms, one of the most important stylistic transitions of the 20th century. While some of the rooms in the apartments refer to art nouveau, others already reflect the art deco spirit. However, it would appear that the main decorative and furniture collection of the building was completed prior to the 1914 war. The analysis of the architecture and the decorative register resulted in a restoration project whose main concern – through a reasoned approach – was to respond to the historic identity of the building and its future function, which was to participate wholly in its identity. The restoration project profoundly examines the problematics relating to the building itself, the conservation of the materials of an architecture lavishly wrought in the first instance, in both its materiality and in the multiplicity of details of execution, and whose current status (classification and listing as an historic monument) and future status (renovation as an Institute for the Giacometti Foundation) constitute an evolution. Our overarching stylistic choice has also been that of re-establishing the architectural and volumetric characteristics present during the renovation of the apartment by Paul Follot, while also respecting evolutions dictated by the division into co-ownership of the mansion. This approach of conservation restoration is thus part of the overall enhancement of the monument’s historic character. All of the original decor will be restored and preserved while it is updated (entrance vestibule, lounge, and dining room) or preserved beneath the modern paintwork (studio). In addition, the conservation restoration undertaken here will wholly integrate the conditions required for the occupation of the premises by the Giacometti Institute, respecting the principles of reversibility and limiting heavy interventions on conservation elements only to what is strictly necessary. The function-related problematics (opening to the public, security, climate control, etc.) will also be taken into account.

Pierre-Antoine Gatier 14

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14. Inaugural Exhibition

21 June - 16 September 2018 THE STUDIO OF ALBERTO GIACOMETTI BY JEAN GENET

Jean Genet and Alberto Giacometti in the Studio, 1957- Photo Isaku Yanaihara Giacometti Foundation Archives, Paris © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018

For the first time in Paris, an exhibition is dedicated to the bonds of friendship and profound admiration between Alberto Giacometti and Jean Genet who met in 1954 through Jean-Paul Sartre. Their friendship led Jean Genet, who had come a model, to write one of the most beautiful texts from the literature on modern art, The Studio of Alberto Giacometti.

Sixty years after its release with Éditions L’Arbalète, this book remains one of the most precious testimonies of the artist’s work and a unique description of his creative world. Constructed around this text, the exhibition visit illustrates the three main themes broached by Genet: the studio, the representation of women, and death.

With the permanent reconstruction of the artist’s studio, the visitor will discover what Genet considered to be “the most important and the most complete” of Giacometti’s artworks, “his other self, the essence and ultimate residue of his artistic contribution.” It was in this legendary space, covered in dust and plunged into silence, that Genet, seated on an uncomfortable straw chair,

PRESS KIT – MARCH 2018 posed on several occasions between 1954 and 1957. Between the two men, an intense dialogue was established, which revealed the very essence of art and of Giacometti’s personality.

Describing the artworks around him, Genet lingered on the figures of standing women. Among these, the ones that the artist associated with his frequentation of bordellos, sites of the staging of bodies that the artist’s gaze transformed into goddesses. It was these same slender, motionless women that Giacometti represented on the cover of Genet’s famous play, Le Balcon. Like Genet, Giacometti was fascinated by death, a subject that haunted his work throughout his career. His sculptures and paintings show a world on the fringes of life, inhabited by the “immeasurable population of the dead” described by the poet.

Alongside emblematic artworks such as the group of Femmes de Venise [Women of Venice] in plaster from 1956, presented for the first time in France, features a group of artworks seen by Genet at the studio, as well as the famous painted portrait of the writer conserved at the Centre Pompidou. The original manuscript of The Studio of Alberto Giacometti, a selection of drawings and sketches (some of which have never been shown), notebooks, photographs, and video archives from the Foundation’s richly diverse collection, complete this ensemble and contribute to shedding light on the unique bond formed by these two rebellious geniuses of the 20th century.

Exhibition curator: Serena Bucalo-Mussely

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15. Visuals available for the press:

Alberto Giacometti in his Studio, circa 1960 - Photo Ernst Scheidegger Giacometti Foundation Archives, Paris © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018

Reconstruction of the Studio (detail) Bust of a Seated Man (Lotar III), 1965-1966 © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018

Façade of 5 Rue Schœlcher, Paris, 2018 – Giacometti Institute

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Giacometti Institute (3D projection) Reconstruction of the studio © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018 Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018

Studio of Alberto Giacometti, 1966 Photo Sabine Weiss Wall of Alberto Giacometti’s Studio, © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti 1966 Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018 © Giacometti Estate (Giacometti Foundation + ADAGP) Paris 2018

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Jean Genet and Alberto Giacometti in the Studio, 1957 Photo Isaku Yanaihara

Catherine Grenier by Peter Lindbergh

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16. PATRONS AND PARTNERS OF THE GIACOMETTI INSTITUTE

PATRONS

PARTNERS

Principal partner

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS

TECHNICAL PARTNERS

AREYCA

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EMERIGE dream, create, build

Emerige is proud to support the renovation project of this historic venue at 5 Rue Victor Schœlcher, which will house the Giacometti Institute.

Founded by Laurent Dumas nearly thirty years ago, Emerige contributed to building the Grand Paris of the future, through the design of ambitious and sustainable real estate programmes combining function, creation, and innovation.

Major Projects Furthering an Innovative and Cultural Grand Paris

In 2016, Emerige was named the winner of “Reinventing Paris” with the renovation of 43 000 m2 of offices located on Boulevard Morland in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, which will lead to the construction of a building integrating over 11 different uses. Designed by architect David Chipperfield, it will include the installation of a monumental panoramic work by artist Olafur Eliasson on the top stories. The Group and its partner AOG are also developing a major artistic and cultural pole spanning 37 500 m2 on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt. This project, assigned to RCR Arquitectes (Pritzker 2017) and Baumschlager Eberle, will constitute, along with La Seine Musicale, one of the most significant cultural concentrations in Europe. Finally, Emerige and the Compagnie de Phalsbourg feature among the winners of the call for offers “Inventons la Métropole du Grand Paris” for their Babcock project. Located on the industrial wasteland of the same name at La Corneuve, the new programme will be dedicated to artistic creation, cultural practices, and education.

The Emerige Endowment Fund for Sharing Art and Culture

A passionate defender of contemporary creation, year after year Emerige supports artists and the events that help to discover them (Nuit Blanche, The Unplayed Notes Factory by Loris Gréaud and Le lien des mondes by Claudine Drai at the Venice Biennale, Singing Stones in association with EXPO CHICAGO, Voyages d’Hiver and Olafur Eliasson at the Château de Versailles, Choices - Paris Gallery Weekend, and many other events). Through the “Emerige Revelations” grant created in 2014, it offers the young generation of artists from the French scene the chance to gain exposure and join leading galleries.

Convinced that art can change daily life, Emerige also encourages the accessibility of culture among all audiences, particularly the youngest audiences. In this vein, it supports arts and culture education programmes, including “A Day Off in Versailles”, Génération(s) Odéon, or the Fondation du Collège de France. Each year, 12 000 children take advantage of these innovative programmes.

As the primary signatory of the “1 immeuble, 1 œuvre” charter, Emerige also contributes to fostering art in the city by installing one artwork in every building that it constructs or restores. Since 2016, nearly 50 artworks have been commissioned or acquired. Over the long term, thousands of users, residents, or passers-by will enjoy these artworks that will become a regular feature of their daily lives.

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THE PATRONAGE OF BUILDERS & PARTNERS

Engineering group BUILDERS & PARTNERS is pleased and proud to provide, within the framework of a patronage agreement, the direction of the construction work of the Giacometti Institute. All of its associates would like to thank the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, for placing their trust in them for their contribution to this project. BUILDERS & PARTNERS is motivated by the conviction that any business is a human community that, in order to live life to the full, must find sources of satisfaction in its everyday life that go beyond mere generation of profit. We therefore received as a meaningful opportunity the privilege of exercising our skills in management and engineering on a project designed to provide access to the work of a major 20th century artist for the widest possible audience. Beyond technical challenges such as the creation of load-bearing structures above old quarries, or the meticulous requirements of executing major works within a magnificent art-deco building whose façades and decor are classified as heritage, or uncompromising measures taken to ensure the conservation of artworks, our teams found additional motivation throughout this challenge in Alberto Giacometti’s message, which they are contributing to promoting. The artist’s approach has given us a key to the meaning of life that resonates with the values of our company. By distancing himself from preconceived notions and rules, Alberto Giacometti worked tirelessly, constantly doubting, inspired by both the remotest and the closest of sources, in the pursuit of an absolute as inaccessible as the discovery of truth. This secret of a vital energy infused with the quest for an ideal, maintained each day through hard work, transcends the context of art to shed light on every individual’s life path, irrespective of our vocation and the framework of our action, however modest it may be. In terms of modesty, the legendary studio of Alberto Giacometti that we have had the privilege of contributing to reconstructing, demonstrates that an immense work can be devised within a small space, reflecting the apparent weakness of our ability to influence the world, whose deceptive modesty may allow us to forget that a small stone thrown into the water can potentially generate many waves. It is this testimony that the experience offered by the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, allowed us to carry with us. The passion of the BUILDERS & PARTNERS group for creativity animates its 130-strong staff each day in their operations, both on the French territory and on the African continent, on large- scale projects ranging from tall buildings in urban neighbourhoods to prestigious restorations for major luxury or hotel brands. With the creation of the Giacometti Institute, this passion finds a new dimension. Through this patronage, it is accomplished in an action that is at once humble yet bears universal meaning.

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The Swiss Embassy in France is proud to be associated with the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, for the occasion of the opening of the Giacometti Institute.

This venue will enable a wide audience to familiarise themselves with the life and work of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, born in Stampa, in the Canton des Grisons, Switzerland. Alberto Giacometti was born into a family that made a name for itself through the talent and originality of its members, representing a lineage of true artists who also made an enduring mark on the art of the 20th century.

In this context, the Embassy’s collaboration with the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, represents much more than simply supporting the creation of the opening exhibition: it is a contribution to the strengthening of relations between Swiss and French institutions and professionals, within the fields of artistic research and education, which is of primordial interest to us.