Fondation Giacometti

Annetta Giacometti, Alberto's mother (1871-1964), was the model for numerous works by Giacometti: from drawings made in his youth – in which she is represented alone or with other members of the family – to paintings and sculptures during the artist’s more mature period. After spending the war years in Geneva, Annetta returned to the family home in Stampa that Alberto visited every summer on his return from Paris. It was here, or in the area around Maloja, that Giacometti made most of his mother's portraits. Though one of the most famous of Annetta's portraits dates from 1937, it's mainly from the end of the forties that Giacometti began to regularly use his mother as a model.
On this painting from 1950, signed and dated by the artist at the bottom right, Annetta is represented in the main room of the house in Stampa. Sitting in front of the door, her hands are placed on her legs. The surroundings are the same as in the painting in the Museum of Modern Art in New York (from 1950 too); the point of view is the same, but the model is sitting nearer, and one cannot see her feet.
The work was probably exhibited in 1956 in Berne, then in Europe in the 1990s (Madrid, Paris, Vienna, Munich).

Signed and dated with a paintbrush at the bottom right corner "Alberto Giacometti 1950"

Private collection
Galerie Jan Krugier et Cie
Hauser & Wirth

1956 Alberto Giacometti, Berne (Switzerland), Kunsthalle Bern, from June 16th to July 22nd 1956, no. 55
1990 Alberto Giacometti. Dibujo. Escultura. Pintura, Madrid (Spain), Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, from November 14th 1990 to January 15th 1991, no. 277
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. 242
1996 Alberto Giacometti 1901-1966, Vienne (Austria), Kunsthalle, from February 24th to May 5th 1996, no. 190
1997 Alberto Giacometti, Munich (Germany), Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, from April 17th to June 29th 1997, no. 91

Franz MEYER, Alberto Giacometti, Kunsthalle Bern, Berne : F. Gygi & Co. Malerei Gipserei, 1956, cat. no. 55
Kosme Maria de BARANANO, Alberto Giacometti. Dibujo. Escultura. Pintura, Barcelona : Lunwerg Editores S.A., 1990, cat. no. 277, p. 594, ill. p. 595
Suzanne PAGE (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. Sculptures. Peintures. Dessins, Paris : Paris-Musées, 1991, cat. no. 242, p. 344, ill. p. 344
Christoph DOSWALD, Patrick ELLIOTT, Toni STOOSS (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti 1901-1966, Stuttgart : Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1996, cat. no. 190, ill. p. 289
Alberto Giacometti, Munich : Hirmer Verlag, 1997 / Munich : Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, 1997, cat. no. 91, ill. p. 149