Catherine Grenier, director of the Giacometti Foundation, shows the reconstruction of "Silent Bird", a missing work by Alberto Giacometti, on the eve of the deconfinement of the exhibition "In search of missing works", at the Giacometti Institute in Paris, May 14. - Aude Lorriaux / 20 Minutes

  • The exhibition  In Search of Missing Works  from the Giacometti Institute resumes from May 15, after a two-month hiatus. It is one of the first exhibitions in the capital to be deconfined.
  • "We are a place that has always favored an intimate link to the works, it was in the DNA of the Foundation, and this unique and personal relationship to the works is further strengthened," said Catherine Grenier, director of the Giacometti Foundation.

It is a discreet but colorful entrance, with a navy wrought iron door and white and yellow mosaics. And today, other colors have been added: an electric blue cord and bright red stickers, which indicate the "distance to be respected". We are in Paris, in the 14th arrondissement, at the Giacometti Institute, which on this morning of May 14, is preparing to reopen its doors the next day, as authorized by government and prefectural measures on "small museums" », In a serene atmosphere, to show his exhibition« In search of disappeared works ». One of the first to be deconfined in the capital.

Tomorrow at the same time, there will be a surveillance officer, who will wait for visitors who have previously booked their ticket with a specific slot on the Internet, and will be asked to enter masked, for a ball in a select committee. No more than ten people at the same time, who will have 20 minutes to visit everything, when usually art lovers have their time.

Christian Alandete, the artistic director of the Giacometti Institute, enters the building which houses the exhibition "In search of disappeared works", on the eve of its deconfinement, on May 14. - Aude Lorriaux / 20 Minutes

Intimate bond

Once the ticket beeped, the curious private contemplation for two months will see, in the first room, in front of the ticket office, the workshop of Alberto Giacometti. Only 24 square meters, which makes Christian Alandete, the artistic director, say that the sculptor was also in a way "confined": "He lived all his life in this reduced space. But to know that the bust on which we are looking is that of the photographer Eli Lotar, friend of Giacometti and the last work on which the artist laid his fingers, we will have to listen to the audio guide, because the physical files have been removed .

To ensure the safety of its guests, the small museum of 350 square meters has not skimped. Four people will be on the scene to indicate the direction of circulation to the ten blessed, who will find hydroalcoholic gel in each room and redoubled intimacy: "We are a place that has always favored an intimate link to the works, it is in the DNA of the Giacometti Foundation, and this unique and personal relationship to the works is further strengthened, ”said Catherine Grenier, director of the Giacometti Foundation, who wants to be positive.

Christian Alandete, artistic director of the Giacometti Institute, and Anne-Marie Pereira, press officer, do not use hydroalcoholic gel on their hands. - Aude Lorriaux / 20 Minutes

48 updated works

In complete safety, we can therefore admire in the main room the Silent Bird which painfully stretches its white wings through a cage, without being able to prevent us from seeing there a sort of metaphor of our confinement. It is a reconstruction of a version exhibited in 1933 at the Salon des Surindépendants.

Because the idea of ​​the exhibition is to show works that have disappeared or been destroyed. Nearly 48 have been discovered, out of 150 carried out in this period (1922-1935) of which we had lost track.

Next to the bird cage, a bas-relief created for Georges Henri Rivière in 1929 suggests a love scene, a work that disappeared after the… couple's divorce. "Maybe it still exists, somewhere ..." suggests, with a dose of mystery and playfulness, the artistic director of the Institute.

Christian Alandete, artistic director of the Giacometti Institute, next to a bas-relief by the artist created for Georges Henri Rivière in 1929, and reconstructed for the exhibition. - Aude Lorriaux / 20 Minutes

"Culture is important for mental health"

You will not be able to find out more by going through the catalog or the books in the library, which can no longer be consulted during this period of virus. Or go to the bathroom to relieve yourself, they are now doomed.

As for reservations, we advise you to hurry, the slots for this weekend have already been taken by storm, reports Christian Alandete. The artistic director is delighted to find the public: “We must relearn how to live a life as normal as possible. Culture is important for mental health. "

A panel in Alberto Giacometti's exhibition "In search of missing works", at the Giacometti Institute, May 14, 2020. - Aude Lorriaux / 20 Minutes

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Coronavirus: The map of museums and exhibitions open near you

Culture

Coronavirus: All places of culture, cinemas, major museums and theaters, will remain closed

  • Covid 19
  • Coronavirus
  • Deconfinement
  • Culture
  • Museum
  • Exposure