Brothers by design: Alberto and Diego Giacometti

‘What are Alberto’s sculptures, those spindly skeletal blobs of bronze?’ Diego Giacometti once said in a late-night rant to his brother Alberto Giacometti’s biographer James Lord. ‘They are less than nothing!’ It was a rare outburst from the loyal younger brother, who had spent the previous 40 years of his life working as Alberto’s technical assistant.

Diego was a talented sculptor — although he was known to reject the term — who would become celebrated in his later years for his bronze furniture. An early injury to his right hand from a threshing machine led him to develop a high degree of dexterity in his fingers on his left hand. When Diego moved to Paris at age 25, Alberto supported him and encouraged him to train as a caster, which he did. So skilled did Diego become, the Surrealist artist Joan Miró once challenged him to cast a plum tart, which he did — perfectly.

Both Alberto and Diego Giacometti were masters of sculpture and design. And the relationship between them was far more than simply that of artist and assistant. Born just a year apart, Alberto Giacometti and his brother Diego were the sons of the Swiss Impressionist painter Giovanni Giacometti. Giovanni was a hugely influential figure to his sons. When Alberto revealed a precocious artistic talent, his father became his tireless supporter.

The brothers collaborated on a profitable sideline making household objects for the designer Jean-Michel Frank, which gave the elder Giacometti the financial freedom to pursue more radical artistic projects.

Diego’s explorations into furniture design began in earnest after World War II. Alberto was already famous by this time, creating works such as the primordial Femme assise (1949-50), which established him as a visionary Modernist. Meanwhile, Diego began to forge his own path, stepping out of the shadow of his brother.

Diego began making bronze furniture and quickly established a loyal clientele. Visitors to the brothers’ studio in Montparnasse soon began asking for ‘the other Giacometti’. One of his most enthusiastic patrons was the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy. The Grand table consol aux cerfs (circa 1968) Diego made for the couturier’s country house sold in 2017 for €2,650,500.

An important aspect of Diego’s work was his interest in nature. He was a country boy at heart, and his designs recalled the Alpine valleys of the brothers’ childhood, as can be seen in tables that feature perching owls and stools that evoke the twisted branches of trees.

Both brothers loved animals. Alberto once said, ‘In a burning building I would save a cat before a Rembrandt.’ Indeed, Diego’s cats were given the run of the studio on rue Hippolyte Maindron.

They, in turn, inspired Alberto’s sculpture, Le Chat, which encapsulates, with humorous affection, the ever-present cats that wandered amongst the paintbrushes and plaster dust. Diego’s bronze animals are also highly prized. His dove, Tourterelle (1975), from The Collection of Hubert de Givenchy, sold at Christie’s in 2017 for €194,500 — almost 10 times its low estimate of €20,000.

But perhaps the key to understanding the brothers’ symbiotic relationship fully is the fact that from the age of 13, the younger sibling sat regularly for his brother. Alberto spent a lifetime trying to capture Diego, as the drawing Tête (de Diego), below, testifies, yet he reflected towards the end of his life that he had never truly succeeded.

Alberto may have been Diego’s mentor, and his tireless supporter, but Diego was Alberto’s muse.

© Succession Alberto Giacometti / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY 2025 © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris