Institut Giacometti opens its doors in Paris with Patti Smith

Ask around you, you will hardly find someone who doesn’t know Albert Giacometti and his work. What instantly comes to mind are the sculptures of this Swiss artist born in 1901. Today, everybody can now enter his studio, where all the elements, from the easel to his mattress and certain parts of the walls, have been preserved over the years by his wife Annette. You can find this exact replica in the newly inaugurated Institut Giacometti near Montparnasse, a stone’s throw from the place where the artist’s original studio was located. Located in a private mansion in the 14th arrondissement, the Institute presided by Catherine Grenier (who is also the Fondation Giacometti’s director), offers an immersion in Giacometti’s work, and notably exhibits the “Femmes de Venise” exhibited for the first time together in France. A research centre in art history as well, the Institut Giacometti counts 350 sculptures and a total of 80 paintings, including the portrait of his great friend Jean Genet. Before D-Day, the excitement was already big, so it was no surprise to see some of the major figures of contemporary art attend the event on June 19 and 20. Among them, artists Martial Raysse, Annette Messager and Christian Boltanski, gallery owner Yvon Lambert, Tate Modern director Frances Morris, or art collector Jean Pigozzi. After two days of inauguration, the Institut Giacometti welcomed the great Patti Smith for an intimate concert.