Fondation Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti made countless portraits of his brother Diego throughout his career. However, choosing to represent him standing up is entirely unusual for Giacometti, who mainly painted his models seated, because of the length of time of posing he inflicted on his models. In the background of the painting, the living room of the house in Stampa is recognisable because of the furniture and the objects also found in the drawings and photographs in the archives of the same period. The exact dating of this painting is uncertain for the writing in the right corner “Alberto Giacometti 11.11.1922” has been plainly added after and has been corrected. That date is close to Diego’s twentieth birthday, born as he was on the 15 November 1902, but it always remained the property of the artist. This portrait shows an elegant Diego in his town suit with a white kerchief around his neck. The steadiness of the drawing and the use of warm and vivid colours, very original compared to the paintings made until 1920, makes it conceivable that this painting has been created after the journey to Italy (1921) and after Alberto’s first stay in Paris (1922). It was mentioned with its title by Alberto in a letter dated 10 September 1926. The letter shows that Alberto was very fond of this painting, confirmed by the choice the artist made to present it during his itinerant exhibition in the United States in 1965 (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco).

Signed and dated with a paintbrush at the bottom right corner "Alberto Giacometti / 11.11.1922"

Annette GIACOMETTI
Succession Annette Giacometti
Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti

1965 Alberto Giacometti, New York, NY (United States Of America), The Museum of Modern Art, from June 7th to October 10th 1965, no. 73
1965 Alberto Giacometti, Chicago, IL (United States Of America), The Art Institute of Chicago, from November 5th to December 12th 1965, no. 73
1966 Alberto Giacometti, Los Angeles, CA (United States Of America), L.A. County Museum of Art, from January 11th to February 20th 1966, no. 73
1966 Alberto Giacometti, San Francisco, CA (United States Of America), San Francisco Museum of Art, from March 10th to April 24th 1966, no. 73
1991 Alberto Giacometti. Sculptures. Peintures. Dessins, Paris (France), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, from November 30th 1991 to March 15th 1992, no. 8
1994 Alberto Giacometti. Skulpturer. Mälningar. Teckningar, Malmö (Sweden), Malmö Konsthall, from October 29th 1994 to January 22nd 1995, no. s. n.
2006 Alberto Giacometti, Kamakura (Japan), The Museum of Modern Art, from June 3rd to July 30th 2006, no. I-3
2006 Alberto Giacometti, Kobe (Japan), Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, from August 8th to October 1st 2006, no. I-3
2006 Alberto Giacometti, Sakura (Japan), Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, from October 10th to December 3rd 2006, no. I-3
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. 11
2009 Giacometti, Riehen, Bâle (Switzerland), Fondation Beyeler, from May 31st to October 11th 2009, no. 23
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- Pure Presence, London (United Kingdom), National Portrait Gallery, from October 15th 2015 to January 10th 2016
2016 Picasso-Giacomettii, Paris (France), Musée National Picasso, from October 4th 2016 to February 5th 2017
2018 Alberto Giacometti Retrospective Québec, Quebec (Canada), Musée National des Beaux Arts du Québec, from February 8th to May 13th 2018
2018 Giacometti Retrospective Guggenheim New York, New York, NY (United States Of America), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, from June 8th to September 12th 2018
2018 Giacometti Restrospective Bilbao, Bilbao (Spain), Guggenheim Museum, from October 19th 2018 to February 24th 2019
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

Jacques DUPIN, Alberto Giacometti, Paris : Maeght éditeur, Paris, 1962, p. 94
Peter SELZ, Alberto Giacometti, New York, NY : The Museum of Modern Art, 1965, cat. no. 73, p. 116, ill. p. 76
Suzanne PAGE (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. Sculptures. Peintures. Dessins, Paris : Paris-Musées, 1991, p. 95, pl. 8, ill. p. 95
Sune NORDGREN (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. Skulpturer. Mälningar. Teckningar, Stockholm : Raster Förlag, 1994, cat. no. s. n., p. 45, 219, ill. p. 45
Véronique WIESINGER, Toshio YAMANASHI (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti, Tokyo : The Tokyo Shimbun, 2006, cat. no. I-3, p. 22, ill. p. 23
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. 11, pl. 299, ill. p. 180
Ulf KUSTER (under the direction of), Giacometti, Ostfildern : HATJE CANTZ VERLAG, 2009, cat. no. 23, ill. p. 53
Véronique WIESINGER (under the direction of), Giacometti, Sao Paulo : Cosac & Naify Ediçoes, 2012, ill. p. 23
Véronique WIESINGER (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. A Retrospective, Barcelona : Ediciones Poligrafa, 2012 / Malaga : Museo Picasso, 2012, ill. p. 95
Véronique WIESINGER (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. Una retrospectiva, Barcelona : Ediciones Poligrafa, 2012 / Malaga : Museo Picasso, 2012, ill. p. 95