Link only available on sub pages

The bronze is part of a series of female figures created by Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti for the French pavilion at the 28th Venice Biennale in 1956. The series consists of different stages of the same figure, which Giacometti created within three weeks. At regular intervals, he asked his brother Diego to make a plaster cast. The total number of plaster figures is unknown, but is estimated at 15. Only nine of them were cast in bronze.

Giacometti's figures represent the extreme position of a retreat to the core of the form. Emaciated and weathered, this figure stands there and yet asserts itself thanks to its captivating power, extreme proportions, sensitive sculptural accentuation, and extraordinarily vivid surface. Giacometti created a striking sculptural form: extreme reduction of volume with a strictly frontal orientation and emphasized anchoring of the figure to the ground. The beautiful colored patina was acquired by the figure through prolonged exposure to the outdoors. Giacometti's theme is the loneliness of man in the face of the infinity of boundless space. The “Woman for Venice” is a very powerful example of how a comparatively delicate sculpture can nevertheless fill and dominate a space with its presence.