Grande Donna (Standing woman III) by Alberto Giacometti

Grande donna (Standing woman III) is the subsequent fusion of one of the realized sculptures in 1960 by Giacometti in New York, from a grand public installation with a group of masculine and feminine figures. 

It deals with one of the highest sculptures conceived by him, more than two metres in height, and executed with respect to the criteria and figure stylization chosen from the beginning of his career.

Solitary and slender figures on which are visible traces of the artist’s hand, were designed to allow the eye to flow in observing, with the intent of capturing the visionary process.

For over a decade Giacometti did not exhibit at all, initially concentrating on his study of the head for the work on the entire figure with the goal of capturing the identity of individual human beings in one single glance.

The new sculptures were exhibited for the first time in 1948, introduced by a reading of Jean Paul Sartre that interprets the work of Giacometti as the most genuine artistic expression of existentialism. 

His slender figures, with the narrow arms by the body and the oversized feet anchored firmly to the base, mirror a concept of man reduced to his essential corporeality. It is practically a skeleton, yet despite this, is still firmly anchored to the world.