Fondation Giacometti

All along his career, Alberto Giacometti never stopped painting or drawing self-portraits.
This youth self-portrait recalls neo-impressionist techniques, already used by his father Giovanni who had studied pointillist theories in Paris between 1888-1891. The use of bright colors including yellow, pink and green for the face complexion recalls Giovanni's portraits, as well as those of Swiss painters from his entourage, such as Cuno Amiet (Alberto’s sponsor) and Ferdinand Hodler (sponsor of Alberto’s brother, Bruno).
Placed in foreground, the subject occupies almost all the space of the painting; the background is reduced to a chromatic element, used only to enhance the subject.
This is not the case in the maturity portraits, where the space around the subject acquires a different significance. The right and immovable gaze of the sitter looking in the mirror, already shows that intensity that strikes all observers and Alberto’s models. Painted with oil on cardboard, this picture is considered as one of the most ambitious of Alberto Giacometti's youth paintings. It doesn’t appear to have been exposed during the lifetime of the artist.

No inscription

Annette GIACOMETTI
Succession Annette Giacometti
Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti

1969 Alberto Giacometti, Paris (France), Orangerie des Tuileries, from October 15th 1969 to January 12th 1970, no. 124
1970 Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), Rome (Italy), Villa Medici, from October 24th to December 18th 1970, no. 1 (dans "Pitture")
2007 L'atelier d'Alberto Giacometti, Paris (France), Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, from October 15th 2007 to February 11th 2008, no. 7
2009 Giacometti, Riehen, Bâle (Switzerland), Fondation Beyeler, from May 31st to October 11th 2009, no. 16
2011 Alberto Giacometti. Una retrospectiva. Colección de la Fundación Alberto y Annette Giacometti, Malaga (Spain), Museo Picasso, from October 17th 2011 to February 5th 2012
2012 Alberto Giacometti. Coleção da Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, Paris, Sao Paulo (Brazil), Pinacoteca do estado, from March 24th to June 17th 2012
2012 Alberto Giacometti. Coleção da Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, Paris, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Museu de Arte Moderna, from July 17th to September 16th 2012
2015 Alberto Giacometti, Istanbul, Tepebasi-Beyoglu-Istanbul, PERA MUSEUM, from February 10th to April 26th 2015
2016 Alberto Giacometti retrospective at Yuz Museum, Shanghai (China), The Shanghai Yuz Museum, from March 22nd to July 31st 2016
2017 Alberto Giacometti after the models., Séoul (South Korea), Seoul Arts Center, from December 21st 2017 to April 15th 2018
2019 Alberto Giacometti, D'après le modèle (Prague)., Prague (Czech Republic), Veletržní palác, from July 18th to December 1st 2019
2021 Alberto Giacometti. Une rétrospective. Le réel merveilleux., MONACO (Monaco), Grimaldi Forum Monaco, from July 3rd to August 29th 2021
2022 Alberto Giacometti : From Life., Dublin (Ireland), National Gallery of Ireland, from April 9th to September 4th 2022
2022 Sophie Ristelhueber, Paris, Institut Giacometti, from September 27th to November 30th 2022

Jacques DUPIN, Alberto Giacometti, Paris : Maeght éditeur, Paris, 1962, p. 93, ill. p. 93
Reinhold HOHL, Dieter HONISCH, Alberto Giacometti, Berlin : Neuen Nationalgalerie, 1987, p. 116, ill. p. 116
Ernst SCHEIDEGGER, Das Bergell Heimat der Giacometti, Zurich : Verlag Ernst Scheidegger, 2001, p. 140, ill. p. 140
Véronique WIESINGER (under the direction of), L'atelier d'Alberto Giacometti, Paris : Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, 2007 / Paris : Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 2007, cat. no. 7, p. 172, pl. 289, ill. p. 173
Ulf KUSTER, Giacometti, Riehen, Bâle : Beyeler Museum AG, 2009, cat. no. 16, ill. p. 46
Véronique WIESINGER (under the direction of), Giacometti, Sao Paulo : Cosac & Naify Ediçoes, 2012, ill. p. 24
Véronique WIESINGER (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. A Retrospective, Barcelona : Ediciones Poligrafa, 2012 / Malaga : Museo Picasso, 2012, ill. p. 82
Véronique WIESINGER (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. Una retrospectiva, Barcelona : Ediciones Poligrafa, 2012 / Malaga : Museo Picasso, 2012, ill. p. 82