The Kunsthalle Bremen is dedicating a major retrospective to Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), which sheds new light on him as one of the defining artists of the 20th century. Under the title The Measure of the World, the exhibition from October 11, 2025 to February 15, 2026 will show more than 100 works - sculptures, paintings, drawings and prints - and make clear how intensively Giacometti dealt with the position of man in space, in the world and in nature throughout his life.

The show is being created in close collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti in Paris, which is a central lender with its extensive holdings. It is complemented by works from the Kupferstichkabinett of the Kunsthalle Bremen as well as a historical film by documentary filmmaker Arnold Fanck (1889-1974) and a contemporary video work by Swedish artist Ulrika Sparre (1974-2025). In this way, Giacometti's artistic thinking is placed in an extended dialog - between past, present and future.

Alberto Giacometti, Landscape, Hill of Capolago and Lake Sils, 1919, watercolor and pencil on paper, Fondation Giacometti, Paris © Succession Alberto Giacometti / ADAGP Paris, 2025

The exhibition is organized thematically and invites visitors to take a tour through the artist's various creative phases: from his early works and surrealist experiments to his return to figuration and the elongated, fragile figures of the post-war period that are now considered his signature. Giacometti's doubts and search for the "right" dimension, for a measure that captures existential experience rather than external resemblance, are condensed in them.
The title The Measure of the World refers to the two central questions of his work: What is the right measure? And how can man's position in the universe be grasped? Giacometti's figures often seem to waver between dissolution and presence - thin, almost transparent, but at the same time of tremendous intensity. They remind us that human existence is fragile, and yet they emphatically assert their presence.
The Bremen retrospective is not only the first comprehensive monographic show on Giacometti in Germany for over ten years, but also the first to be dedicated to his existential questioning. The Kunsthalle Bremen is thus continuing its tradition of combining the great questions of art history with current perspectives.
Giacometti is not only celebrated as a classic, but also as an artist whose work continues to have an impact today - a benchmark for art and a mirror of the world.
October 11, 2025 to February 15, 2026
www.kunsthalle-bremen.de