{"id":2079647,"date":"2026-08-05T19:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T16:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2079647"},"modified":"2026-08-05T19:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T16:00:39","slug":"the-most-expensive-alberto-giacometti-works-to-sell-at-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2079647","title":{"rendered":"The Most Expensive Alberto Giacometti Works to Sell at Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\tCoarse skin, matchstick-thin, and oozing existential dread\u2014the signature of Alberto Giacometti is unmistakable. Born in Borgonovo, Switzerland, in 1901, Giacometti captivated the interest and imagination of his artistic peers and patrons with a career of remarkable transformation: from his early Surrealist experiments to his explorations of ancient Egyptian-inspired forms, to the postwar period when isolation, anxiety, and human fragility came to define his spindly cast of figures.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity,\u201d Giacometti once said.<\/p>\n
\n\tSince his death in 1966, Giacometti\u2019s appeal has only grown, with major museums and private collectors alike competing for the rare opportunity to acquire one of his coveted bronzes when they appear at auction. Such offerings are accompanied by intense market speculation and global attention: Which deep-pocketed collector will emerge victorious from the bidding war? Will the artist\u2019s already astronomical auction records hold\u2014or shatter, as they have time and again? <\/p>\n
\n\tBelow, explore Swiss master\u2019s top ten auction results, a list that traces his meteoric rise from the upper echelons of the market to the rarefied realm of nine-figure sculpture sales. (And, yes, if you were wondering, a Giacometti work does place on our top 10 list of the most expensive artworks ever sold at auction.)<\/p>\n
Femme Leoni<\/em> (1947) sold at Sotheby\u2019s New York on May 16, 2023, as one of the marquee lots of the house\u2019s Modern Evening Auction. The bronze, estimated at $25 million to $35 million, realized $28.5 million, setting a new auction benchmark for the Femme Leoni<\/em> series. Conceived in 1947 and cast in 1960, the sculpture came from a private American collection, having descended from Swiss curator Franz Meyer, who received it as a gift from the artist.<\/p>\n
Femme Leoni<\/em> belongs to the first generation of Giacometti\u2019s postwar standing women, a motif that, alongside Walking Man<\/em>, came to define his mature oeuvre. Cast by Susse Fondeur in an edition of eight, the beanstalk-thin figure continues the artist\u2019s enduring meditation on existential solitude\u2014frail but unbroken, alone even in a room full of admirers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Grande femme II<\/em>\u00a0(1960)<\/h2>\n<\/figure>\n
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Sold for: <\/strong>$29.5 million<\/p>\n
Grande femme II<\/em> (1960) came to Christie\u2019s Paris on October 19, 2017, as part of the landmark Paris Avant-Garde sale\u2014and became the most expensive work of art sold in France that year. At roughly nine feet tall, the towering bronze is Giacometti\u2019s largest sculpture. \u201cWhat struck me above all is its majesty,\u201d Pierre Martin-Vivier, then director of 20th-century art at Christie\u2019s in Paris, said at the time. \u201cIt was as though I was in front of a statue from Chartres, or an African totem. And the detail is incredible. The surface is very irregular, and it moves with the light.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tGiacometti created four Grande femme<\/em> sculptures (numbered I through IV) in 1960 on commission from architect Gordon Bunshaft for the plaza in front of Chase Manhattan Bank\u2019s New York headquarters. According to Christie\u2019s, Giacometti was inspired by the magnificence of Manhattan\u2019s skyline and scaled up the series accordingly. He created around 10 versions of Grande femme<\/em>, none of which satisfied his exacting vision, and the commission was ultimately abandoned. The sculptures, however, lived on: in 1962, two versions of Grande femme<\/em> were installed at the Venice Biennale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Trois hommes qui marchent <\/em>(Grand plateau)\u00a0(1948\u201349)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold For: <\/strong>$30.2 million<\/p>\n
Trois hommes qui marchent (Grand plateau)<\/em> (1948\u201349) sold at Sotheby\u2019s New York on November 14, 2022, as part of the auction house\u2019s Modern Evening Auction. One of Giacometti\u2019s most significant postwar bronzes, Grand plateau<\/em> carried an estimate of $20 million to $30 million. A seven-minute bidding war\u2014the longest of the November season, Artnet News<\/em> reported at the time\u2014pushed the final price to $30.2 million, placing the sculpture among the artist\u2019s top auction performers. The buyer has never been publicly identified, though The Art Newspaper<\/em> reported that they triumphed over three telephone bidders.<\/p>\n
Trois hommes qui marchent<\/em> is one of only two known casts of the Grand plateau<\/em> version, which depicts three emaciated figures advancing across a single platform\u2014an image that has prompted interpretations of isolation and the frayed human condition in the wake of World War II. The Fondation Giacometti has drawn parallels between the scene and the artist\u2019s refuge in Switzerland during the war and his return to Paris in 1945. \u201cOne noteworthy aspect of the sculpture is its base, which alludes to that of a public monument, glorifying the anonymous hero,\u201d the foundation writes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Diego en chemise \u00e9cossaise<\/em>\u00a0(1954)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: AFP via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold For: <\/strong>$32.6 million<\/p>\n
\n\tThis 1954 oil-on-canvas portrait made some ripples during Christie\u2019s otherwise tepid Impressionist and modern sale in New York on November 5, 2013, when it sold for $32,645,000, then a world auction record for a painting by Giacometti. The house, meanwhile, took in a total of $144.3 million that night, well below its low estimate of $188.8 million.<\/p>\n
Diego en chemise \u00e9cossaise<\/em>\u00a0hammered below its $30 million low estimate, selling to its third-party guarantor. Despite its essentially assured sale, the lot was notable by virtue of its rarity: paintings are a relatively scarce commodity in an oeuvre better known for sculpture. When asked at the following press conference why the estimate had been set so high, auctioneer Andreas Rumbler reportedly replied that the buyer was a devotee of the Giacometti market and pleased with the purchase price. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Grane t\u00eate mince <\/em>(Grande t\u00eate de Diego)\u00a0(1954)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: AFP via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold for:<\/strong> $50 million<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFrom the start, all eyes were on Grande t\u00eate mince (Grande t\u00eate de Diego)<\/em>,\u201d reads a firsthand account in The New York Times<\/em> of Sotheby\u2019s November 6, 2013, Impressionist and modern art sale. Four bidders were reportedly vying for the bronze bust of the artist\u2019s brother, conceived in 1954 and cast in 1955. The sculpture was estimated to fetch $35 million to $55 million and ultimately sold for just over $50 million to James G. Niven, then chairman of Sotheby\u2019s America, bidding on behalf of Acquavella Galleries. The price fell below expectations but still set a record for Giacometti. The work came to Sotheby\u2019s from London dealer Desmond Corcoran, who had owned it for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe sculpture depicts Giacometti\u2019s younger brother, Diego, his lifelong collaborator and most enduring model. Giacometti is perhaps best known for his portraits, which he relentlessly reworked in his pursuit of genuine human presence. He once said he could spend an entire day trying to realize a single head, only to \u201cstart again from zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Grande t\u00eate mince (1954)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY \/ AFP) \/ RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION – TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY\/AFP via Getty Images)\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold for: <\/strong>$53.3 million<\/p>\n
\n\tAt more than two feet in height,\u00a0Grande t\u00eate mince<\/em>\u00a0is the largest of the busts Giacometti realized during the 1950s, dwarfed only by the subsequent\u00a0Grande t\u00eate<\/em>. Craggy, life-size, elongated, and abject, it is a quintessential Giacometti portrait of the period. Christie\u2019s sold the work in New York on May 4, 2010, for $53,282,500, contextualizing the sculpture within Giacometti\u2019s artistic evolution: The full-bodied figurines he\u2019d dedicated the last decade \u201cmade him famous in Europe and America,\u201d the house wrote, \u201cand indeed his eagerness to move beyond these sculptures also had much to do with casting off the stifling burden of their success and the expectations that they had fostered in the public eye.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Le Nez<\/em>\u00a0(1947)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: AFP via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold for: <\/strong>$78.4 million<\/p>\n
Le Nez<\/em> (1949) came to Sotheby\u2019s New York on November 15, 2021, as a casualty of Harry and Linda Macklowe\u2019s court-ordered collection sale following their high-profile divorce. Fierce bidding for the surreal bronze, suspended within a cage-like frame, drove the final price to $78.4 million, making it the fourth most expensive Giacometti ever sold at auction.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt is also one of Giacometti\u2019s most psychologically charged creations\u2014an impressive distinction in an oeuvre populated by haunted, existential figures. Le Nez<\/em> presents a gaunt, howling head with a Pinocchio-like nose reaching beyond the bars of its cage. The Fondation Giacometti connects the sculpture to a 1946 text in which the artist recounts a nightmare of a monstrous spider hanging from the ceiling, suggesting the work emerged from the same excavation of memory and the subconscious. Purchased by an anonymous bidder, the sale demonstrated that, even in a cooling post-pandemic art market, demand for museum-quality Giacomettis remained high.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Chariot<\/em>\u00a0(1950)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: picture alliance via Getty Image\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold for: <\/strong>$100.97 million<\/p>\n
Chariot<\/em> (1950) arrived at Sotheby\u2019s New York on November 4, 2014, boasting one of the highest estimates ever assigned to a sculpture: more than $100 million. The painted bronze on a wooden base met those expectations, selling for $100.97 million after a brisk bidding contest and becoming only the third sculpture to achieve a nine-figure price at auction.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne of just six casts, Chariot<\/em> depicts a spindly female figure perched\u2014almost precariously\u2014on a two-wheeled platform reminiscent of a Pharaonic ceremonial chariot. Giacometti said the work was inspired in part by the memory of a \u201csparkling pharmacy cart\u201d he saw in a hospital corridor while recovering from a car accident in 1938. He also described a desire to place a figure in empty space \u201cin order to see it better and to situate it at a precise distance from the floor.\u201d The buyer was later identified as hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen, marking his second record-breaking Giacometti acquisition in as many years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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L\u2019Homme qui marche I <\/em>(Walking Man I)<\/em>\u00a0(1960)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold for: <\/strong>\u00a365 million ($104.3 million)<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen L\u2019Homme qui marche I (Walking Man I)<\/em> (1961) came to Sotheby\u2019s London on February 3, 2010, there was little doubt it would make history. One of Giacometti\u2019s most iconic sculptures, the monumental bronze had remained in a private collection for decades and was expected to fetch between \u00a312 million and \u00a318 million. The bidding battle lasted just eight minutes, with the winning bidder paying \u00a365 million ($104.3 million). At the time, it became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction\u2014a record surpassed just three months later by Pablo Picasso\u2019s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Walking Man I<\/em> is quintessential Giacometti: a lone, elongated figure frozen mid-stride. Cast in an edition of six, the other examples reside in major museum collections, including the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The identity of the 2010 buyer remains unconfirmed. What is certain is that the sale cemented Giacometti as one of the few sculptors capable of commanding nine-figure prices at auction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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L\u2019Homme au doigt <\/em>(Pointing Man)\u00a0(1947)<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Digital image copyright \u00a9 Christie\u2019s Images Ltd. Artwork copyright \u00a9 Succession Alberto Giacometti\/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2025.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold for: <\/strong>$141.3 million<\/p>\n
L\u2019Homme au doigt<\/em>\u00a0(1947) hit the block at Christie\u2019s on May 11, 2015, amid intense market speculation: Could the six-foot-tall bronze, offered for sale for the first time in 45 years, break the auction record for any sculpture? The answer was a resounding yes. The work sold for a staggering\u00a0$141.3 million with fees, setting a record that still stands today.<\/p>\n
\n\tGiacometti produced six casts of the sculpture, now divided among private collections, the Giacometti Foundation, and museums. Shortly after the sale,\u00a0Page Six<\/em>\u00a0identified the mysterious buyer as hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen, who added the work to his renowned collection of modern and contemporary art. A year earlier, Cohen had also been the winning\u2014and reportedly sole\u2014bidder for another Giacometti on this list,\u00a0Chariot<\/em>\u00a0(1950), purchasing it at Sotheby\u2019s for just over $100.9 million.<\/p>\n
L\u2019Homme au doigt<\/em>, or\u00a0Pointing Man<\/em>\u00a0as it is commonly known in English, is \u201cone of the great 20th-century sculptures,\u201d Manhattan dealer William Acquavella said after the sale. \u201cSteve is a very serious, very astute collector,\u201d he added. \u201cHe also has the right instincts, ones that can\u2019t be learned from reading art-history books.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1281897288.jpg?w=1024″] Coarse skin, matchstick-thin, and oozing existential dread\u2014the signature of Alberto Giacometti is unmistakable. Born in Borgonovo, Switzerland, in 1901, Giacometti captivated the interest and imagination of his artistic peers and patrons with a career of remarkable transformation: from his early Surrealist experiments to his explorations of ancient Egyptian-inspired forms, to the postwar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2079647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2079647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2079647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2079647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2079647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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