Bust and Head
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Sculpture Sculpture by painters Italy Italian sculpture Modigliani Giacometti Picasso 1907-1931 Picasso 1940-1960 Russia and Eastern Europe Brancusi
Chronology : 1910-1919 1910 1911 1913 1930-1939 1932 1955 1965
See also : Sculpture Sculpture by painters Italy Italian sculpture Modigliani Giacometti Picasso 1907-1931 Picasso 1940-1960 Russia and Eastern Europe Brancusi
Chronology : 1910-1919 1910 1911 1913 1930-1939 1932 1955 1965
masterpiece
1345 BCE Nefertiti Bust
Neues Museum Berlin
Discovered in 1912.
The heretic king Akhenaten had replaced the worship of Amen by that of the solar circle Aten, certainly for political reasons. He thus escaped the hold by the Theban priests. He had established his capital in the middle of the desert, on a site whose Arab name will be Amarna. This religious revolution was accompanied by an artistic breakthrough. Amarnian artists have for the first time sought a naturalistic representation. Nefertiti was a wife of Akhenaten.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The heretic king Akhenaten had replaced the worship of Amen by that of the solar circle Aten, certainly for political reasons. He thus escaped the hold by the Theban priests. He had established his capital in the middle of the desert, on a site whose Arab name will be Amarna. This religious revolution was accompanied by an artistic breakthrough. Amarnian artists have for the first time sought a naturalistic representation. Nefertiti was a wife of Akhenaten.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
masterpiece
1325 BCE Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun
Cairo Museum
Discovered in 1925.
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
The image is shared by Wikimedia with attribution Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
BRANCUSI
1
1913 La Muse endormie
2017 SOLD for $ 57M by Christie's
The art of Brancusi is too fundamental, too seminal and too personal to be associated with any artistic movement. Very gifted in his hands since his childhood, this son of poor Carpathian peasants arrived in Paris on foot in 1904. The period is exceptional : the artistic Parisian bubbling opens the way to his creativity.
He learns with Rodin that the human figure can be reduced to a single element. A head lying on a ground symbolizes the serenity. He appreciates from Gauguin that Oceanic tribal art can influence the modern universal art through its extreme simplification of forms. The skilled bearded strongman chooses the direct cut contrary to the practice of his time. He will influence Modigliani.
Brancusi began in 1907 to conceive his series of masterpieces. In Le Baiser he is the first artist who suggests a development of Cubism in sculpture.
In 1909 he creates the prototype of La Muse endormie in white marble. The lying head is an egg in which the facial features and the hair are only lightly incised. The nape of the neck is used as a support. Despite the stylization it is unquestionably a portrait of his model the baronne Frachon. The artist succeeded in the impossible synthesis between geometry and portraiture.
In 1910 Brancusi produces three plasters and six bronzes from his first Muse endormie. The bronzes are cast by Valsuani but the patina different in each of the bronzes is executed by the artist himself with a painstaking care.
One of the six bronzes, 27 cm long, was sold for $ 57M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 32 A. This example cast by 1913 has an exceptional matte and warm patina enhanced in places with gold leaf which is perfectly suited to the illusion of serenity desired by the artist. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 16, 2017
Brancusi's La muse endormie casted in 1913 realized $57,367,500 against its estimate of $25,000,000, a #worldauctionrecord for the artist
He learns with Rodin that the human figure can be reduced to a single element. A head lying on a ground symbolizes the serenity. He appreciates from Gauguin that Oceanic tribal art can influence the modern universal art through its extreme simplification of forms. The skilled bearded strongman chooses the direct cut contrary to the practice of his time. He will influence Modigliani.
Brancusi began in 1907 to conceive his series of masterpieces. In Le Baiser he is the first artist who suggests a development of Cubism in sculpture.
In 1909 he creates the prototype of La Muse endormie in white marble. The lying head is an egg in which the facial features and the hair are only lightly incised. The nape of the neck is used as a support. Despite the stylization it is unquestionably a portrait of his model the baronne Frachon. The artist succeeded in the impossible synthesis between geometry and portraiture.
In 1910 Brancusi produces three plasters and six bronzes from his first Muse endormie. The bronzes are cast by Valsuani but the patina different in each of the bronzes is executed by the artist himself with a painstaking care.
One of the six bronzes, 27 cm long, was sold for $ 57M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 32 A. This example cast by 1913 has an exceptional matte and warm patina enhanced in places with gold leaf which is perfectly suited to the illusion of serenity desired by the artist. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 16, 2017
Brancusi's La muse endormie casted in 1913 realized $57,367,500 against its estimate of $25,000,000, a #worldauctionrecord for the artist
- Christie's post announces the record-breaking $57.4 million sale of Constantin Brâncuși's 1913 bronze "La Muse Endormie," a patinated oval head depicting a sleeping muse, which doubled its $25-35 million estimate during the May 15, 2017, Impressionist and Modern evening auction in New York.
- The sculpture's abstract, egg-like form represents Brâncuși's pioneering modernist style, reducing human features to smooth curves and planes, and its rarity at auction—most of his works reside in museums—drove intense bidding from five competitors over nine minutes.
- This transaction not only set a world auction record for Brâncuși but also highlighted the 2017 art market's strength, with the full sale totaling $289 million, signaling robust collector interest in early 20th-century European modernism amid global economic recovery.
2
1932 La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée
2018 SOLD for $ 71M by Christie's
Being a muse for Brancusi was not a difficult task. He had met Margit Pogany very briefly in 1910 but liked the shape of her head which inspired him until the mid-1920s.
The heads sculpted by Brancusi are not abstract. He considers that everything that overflows, mainly nose and ears, is inappropriate to express the deep reality of a portrait. He gradually reduces these growths to a surface carving up to removing them completely.
Around 1925 he made a wooden bust 55 cm high on the theme of La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée. He takes Nancy Cunard as a model, without telling her. The heiress of the Cunard shipowners, she has an eccentric life that symbolizes the roaring twenties in the Parisian literary and artistic circles. She is sexually liberated and anarchist, and her attires are inspired by Africa.
The almost abstract head is indeed a portrait. Comparing with the photos of the period, we recognize the bulging forehead and the receding chin, and the stiff neck from behind. This disturbing muse always offers in the photos an unpleasant pout that we imagine also through the rare incisions of the sculpture. The pinched bun is an evocation of her signature bunches.
Brancusi made a plaster in 1928 and a unique polished bronze in 1932. This bronze is still installed on the marble base designed by the artist, for a total height of 80 cm. It was sold for $ 71M by Christie's on May 15, 2018, lot 19 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Nancy Cunard discovered many years later that she had served as a model for this artwork. After hesitating in its interpretation as a bust or a torso, she expressed her admiration for the artist.
Grok thought :
Quote
New York Times Arts @nytimesarts May 16, 2018
A rare bronze by Constantin Brancusi topped the auction high for the artist as his polished portrait of the flamboyant shipping heiress Nancy Cunard reached $71 million at Christie's. https://nyti.ms/2rK5Nha
The heads sculpted by Brancusi are not abstract. He considers that everything that overflows, mainly nose and ears, is inappropriate to express the deep reality of a portrait. He gradually reduces these growths to a surface carving up to removing them completely.
Around 1925 he made a wooden bust 55 cm high on the theme of La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée. He takes Nancy Cunard as a model, without telling her. The heiress of the Cunard shipowners, she has an eccentric life that symbolizes the roaring twenties in the Parisian literary and artistic circles. She is sexually liberated and anarchist, and her attires are inspired by Africa.
The almost abstract head is indeed a portrait. Comparing with the photos of the period, we recognize the bulging forehead and the receding chin, and the stiff neck from behind. This disturbing muse always offers in the photos an unpleasant pout that we imagine also through the rare incisions of the sculpture. The pinched bun is an evocation of her signature bunches.
Brancusi made a plaster in 1928 and a unique polished bronze in 1932. This bronze is still installed on the marble base designed by the artist, for a total height of 80 cm. It was sold for $ 71M by Christie's on May 15, 2018, lot 19 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Nancy Cunard discovered many years later that she had served as a model for this artwork. After hesitating in its interpretation as a bust or a torso, she expressed her admiration for the artist.
Grok thought :
Quote
New York Times Arts @nytimesarts May 16, 2018
A rare bronze by Constantin Brancusi topped the auction high for the artist as his polished portrait of the flamboyant shipping heiress Nancy Cunard reached $71 million at Christie's. https://nyti.ms/2rK5Nha
- This 2018 New York Times Arts post announces the record $71 million auction sale of Constantin Brancusi's rare 1932 bronze sculpture "La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée (Portrait de Nancy Cunard)" at Christie's, surpassing the artist's prior high of $57 million.
- Brancusi, a Romanian modernist pioneer in Paris, abstracted the flamboyant heiress Nancy Cunard's features into a sleek, elongated form symbolizing her bohemian life as a writer, jazz patron, and anti-fascist activist.
- The unique cast, held in one collection for over 60 years, drew three bidders and remains Brancusi's top auction price as of 2025, underscoring sustained market interest in his innovative abstract portraits.
PICASSO
1
1910-1939 Tête de Femme (Fernande) by Picasso
2022 SOLD for $ 48M by Christie's
During his summer of 1909 at Horta, Picasso made eight paintings and several drawings of his accompanying muse Fernande. In his search for a new artistic language that would supersede the reality by the emotion, he bored the 28 year old model.
Back in Paris and ever desiring to experiment techniques, he conceives a Cubist form of bust sculpture based on Fernande's features including her styled hair over the head. The clay is modeled so that the figure is going abstract from some angles of view.
Vollard acquires that clay in 1910 and creates a plaster from which he will have bronzes cast on request from customers up to his death in 1939 for an overall total of about 20 units. The foundry is rarely identified. The exhibition of that Tête de Femme by Vollard in his gallery certainly influenced the development of modern sculpture by Boccioni and Brancusi.
One of these 42 cm bronzes of the Tête de Femme (Fernande) is de-accessioned by the Met Museum which had another example gifted in 2021 by Leonard Lauder. It was sold for $ 48M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 16C.
Back in Paris and ever desiring to experiment techniques, he conceives a Cubist form of bust sculpture based on Fernande's features including her styled hair over the head. The clay is modeled so that the figure is going abstract from some angles of view.
Vollard acquires that clay in 1910 and creates a plaster from which he will have bronzes cast on request from customers up to his death in 1939 for an overall total of about 20 units. The foundry is rarely identified. The exhibition of that Tête de Femme by Vollard in his gallery certainly influenced the development of modern sculpture by Boccioni and Brancusi.
One of these 42 cm bronzes of the Tête de Femme (Fernande) is de-accessioned by the Met Museum which had another example gifted in 2021 by Leonard Lauder. It was sold for $ 48M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 16C.
2
1959 Tête Sculptée de Dora Maar
2007 SOLD for $ 29M by Sotheby's
At the beginning of 1941 Picasso relocates his series of busts of Marie-Thérèse, made ten years earlier at Boisgeloup, to his studio on rue des Grands Augustins. In the same year, he makes a plaster head of Dora Maar, 80 cm high. This domineering work, larger than life, is in an idealized style which is in total opposition to the dramatic or allegorical portraits of Dora that he was painting at the same period.
This plaster is edited in bronze in two copies by Susse in 1958 plus two copies by Valsuani at an undocumented date.
Picasso owed a debt of honor to Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. He had received a commission for the funeral monument of his friend in the Père Lachaise graveyard, but none of his projects had been accepted. In the mid-1950s he offered to provide the statue of Dora as a symbol of the ideal woman for a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés.
One of the Valsuani bronzes was installed in the square in 1959. The other was kept by the artist, which suggests that the cast by Valsuani was made especially for the Apollinaire project.
The copy which had been kept by Picasso was sold for $ 29M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007, lot 22.
This plaster is edited in bronze in two copies by Susse in 1958 plus two copies by Valsuani at an undocumented date.
Picasso owed a debt of honor to Guillaume Apollinaire, who died in 1918. He had received a commission for the funeral monument of his friend in the Père Lachaise graveyard, but none of his projects had been accepted. In the mid-1950s he offered to provide the statue of Dora as a symbol of the ideal woman for a monument to Apollinaire in the square of the church of Saint-Germain des Prés.
One of the Valsuani bronzes was installed in the square in 1959. The other was kept by the artist, which suggests that the cast by Valsuani was made especially for the Apollinaire project.
The copy which had been kept by Picasso was sold for $ 29M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2007, lot 22.
Tête by MODIGLIANI
Intro
Amedeo Modigliani is a young Italian immigrant who is learning the tendencies of modern art in Paris at the Bateau-Lavoir. From his meeting with Brancusi he discovers the sculpture in direct carving, perfectly suited to his skills : Modi operates quickly and without rework.
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Modigliani is easily convinced by Brancusi that the direct stone carving may bring an utmost purity to art. Opposed to Rodin's realism, the two artists are attempting a conceptual art that their detractors include in the Cubism still highly disputed at that time.
From 1909 to 1914 Modigliani is obsessed with a unique project : to build a temple dedicated to feminine beauty. To provide a roof for his monument, he tirelessly draws figures of cariatides which he calls his columns of tenderness.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion.
Around 1911 he finally exerts his indisputable skills for sculpture in a series of limestone and sandstone women's heads. These elongated heads with a long neck on a cubic base are similar to each other but details of the faces are different. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will prepare his temple of art. The varied heights show that its overall design is far from fixed.
Art critics have searched for models and styles that have inspired the timeless beauty of Modigliani's women's heads. They are indeed a synthesis of all ages and all civilizations. They are simple as the Cycladic idols, noble as queens of Egypt, Mannerist as a Botticelli, mysterious as African masks, serene as deities, geometric like the art of his friend Brancusi. They are designed to be viewed as a group, such as the Cariatides of a Greek temple.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
He carved about 25 heads. In 1911 five of them are recognizable by photography in his solo exhibition organized with the help of Brancusi in the vast workshop of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. In 1912 the Salon d'Automne aligns seven heads in the Cubist Hall. Only the artist in his small studio in Montparnasse, or some friends at an exhibition in 1911 or 1912, could breathe the mystical atmosphere of the whole.
In 1913 Modigliani feels that his project of temple is ready. He chooses to use marble and visits Carrara. He carved only one caryatid. His fragile health will not allow him to do more. He abandons his great project and becomes a portrait painter again. The bust heads were dispersed.
Modigliani carved the stone in direct cut. In 1914 he had to give up his vocation as a sculptor for reasons of health and money. His brush was as skilled as his chisel to express the purity of the curves, and he became the best portrait painter of Montparnasse.
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Modigliani is easily convinced by Brancusi that the direct stone carving may bring an utmost purity to art. Opposed to Rodin's realism, the two artists are attempting a conceptual art that their detractors include in the Cubism still highly disputed at that time.
From 1909 to 1914 Modigliani is obsessed with a unique project : to build a temple dedicated to feminine beauty. To provide a roof for his monument, he tirelessly draws figures of cariatides which he calls his columns of tenderness.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion.
Around 1911 he finally exerts his indisputable skills for sculpture in a series of limestone and sandstone women's heads. These elongated heads with a long neck on a cubic base are similar to each other but details of the faces are different. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will prepare his temple of art. The varied heights show that its overall design is far from fixed.
Art critics have searched for models and styles that have inspired the timeless beauty of Modigliani's women's heads. They are indeed a synthesis of all ages and all civilizations. They are simple as the Cycladic idols, noble as queens of Egypt, Mannerist as a Botticelli, mysterious as African masks, serene as deities, geometric like the art of his friend Brancusi. They are designed to be viewed as a group, such as the Cariatides of a Greek temple.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
He carved about 25 heads. In 1911 five of them are recognizable by photography in his solo exhibition organized with the help of Brancusi in the vast workshop of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. In 1912 the Salon d'Automne aligns seven heads in the Cubist Hall. Only the artist in his small studio in Montparnasse, or some friends at an exhibition in 1911 or 1912, could breathe the mystical atmosphere of the whole.
In 1913 Modigliani feels that his project of temple is ready. He chooses to use marble and visits Carrara. He carved only one caryatid. His fragile health will not allow him to do more. He abandons his great project and becomes a portrait painter again. The bust heads were dispersed.
Modigliani carved the stone in direct cut. In 1914 he had to give up his vocation as a sculptor for reasons of health and money. His brush was as skilled as his chisel to express the purity of the curves, and he became the best portrait painter of Montparnasse.
1
1911-1912
2014 SOLD for $ 71M by Sotheby's
On November 4, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 71M from an estimate in excess of $ 45M a bust 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. This specimen had been exhibited at the Salon d'Automne.
Grok thought from an ArtHitParade tweet :
Grok thought from an ArtHitParade tweet :
- This 2014 X post previews a rare limestone sculpture, "Tête" (Head of a Woman, 1911-1912) by Amedeo Modigliani, for Sotheby's New York sale on November 4, featuring an image of the elongated, archaic-inspired head that exemplifies his short-lived sculptural period.
- The work, one of fewer than 30 surviving Modigliani sculptures, fetched $70.7 million—exceeding its $45 million estimate and setting a then-record for his three-dimensional output—amid a blockbuster evening sale totaling over $365 million.
- @ArtHitParade 's focus on auction milestones underscores Modigliani's market dominance, with his sculptures prized for their African-influenced forms and scarcity, as most were destroyed in a 1917 heatwave to pay his debts.
2
1911
2010 SOLD for € 43M by Christie's
One of these statues, made of Parisian limestone, 64 cm high including the cubic base, was sold for € 43M from a lower estimate of € 4M by Christie's on June 14, 2010. It is shared in an article in French by Le Figaro.
This specimen had been exhibited by Souza-Cardoso and at the Salon d'Automne.
This specimen had been exhibited by Souza-Cardoso and at the Salon d'Automne.
3
1911-1912
2019 SOLD for $ 34M by Christie's
A 51 cm high Tête carved in limestone around 1911-1912 with no early exhibition history was sold for $ 34M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 31A.
On May 13 we will offer Amedeo Modigliani’s limestone sculpture, 'Tête', circa 1911-1912, in our New York Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art.
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) April 18, 2019
Find out more: https://t.co/gMtuCZPqy8 pic.twitter.com/Tia9YIKeZC
1955 Grande Tête Mince by GIACOMETTI
Intro
Starting in 1953 Alberto refocuses on the portraits of his family and friends his sculpted and painted art. He used to say that he did not make a difference between sculpture and drawing. He then takes as model only his family and close friends, especially his brother Diego younger than himself by only thirteen months. People outside his narrow circle would probably hardly support to be so scrutinized by this artist in search of a new ideal.
At the same time Alberto rediscovers his fascination for the famous bust of Nefertiti, breaking with the tradition of classical sculpture which had been a way to offer to the viewer a realistic three-dimensional vision of the selected theme.
The graphic art of ancient Egypt used a flat profile figuration by which the two sides of the head cannot be seen simultaneously. A bust of Diego on a base, 38 cm high overall, executed in 1954, is subtitled Amenophis. The head is a blade. On each side Alberto kneaded an Egyptian portrait of his brother. A bronze was sold by Sotheby's for £ 3.4M on June 24, 2009.
At 65 cm high overall, Grande Tête de Diego will remain until 1960 the largest bust created by Alberto. Like Amenophis, it was designed in 1954 and edited in bronze by Susse in 1955. The head is again limited to a blade but the view of each profile is as realistic as a drawing, with the frank gaze and the mouth opened for speaking.
That Grande Tête Mince is the most daring of all compositions by Alberto. Since the two sides of the face are not seen simultaneously, they can be dissimilar with the exception of the open mouth. Indeed the portrait of Nefertiti has no pupil in the left eye, probably from its conception. Alberto's face is more wrinkled than Diego's. The left side is undoubtedly a portrait of Diego. The right side, kneaded in clay with deeper relief, could be a self-portrait of Alberto.
The two brothers had a strong physical resemblance and there is no doubt that Alberto sought also to reach the truth about himself. He voluntarily maintained this ambiguity in an exhibition in 1962 when he chose to name this sculpture Grande tête mince rather than Grande tête de Diego.
At the same time Alberto rediscovers his fascination for the famous bust of Nefertiti, breaking with the tradition of classical sculpture which had been a way to offer to the viewer a realistic three-dimensional vision of the selected theme.
The graphic art of ancient Egypt used a flat profile figuration by which the two sides of the head cannot be seen simultaneously. A bust of Diego on a base, 38 cm high overall, executed in 1954, is subtitled Amenophis. The head is a blade. On each side Alberto kneaded an Egyptian portrait of his brother. A bronze was sold by Sotheby's for £ 3.4M on June 24, 2009.
At 65 cm high overall, Grande Tête de Diego will remain until 1960 the largest bust created by Alberto. Like Amenophis, it was designed in 1954 and edited in bronze by Susse in 1955. The head is again limited to a blade but the view of each profile is as realistic as a drawing, with the frank gaze and the mouth opened for speaking.
That Grande Tête Mince is the most daring of all compositions by Alberto. Since the two sides of the face are not seen simultaneously, they can be dissimilar with the exception of the open mouth. Indeed the portrait of Nefertiti has no pupil in the left eye, probably from its conception. Alberto's face is more wrinkled than Diego's. The left side is undoubtedly a portrait of Diego. The right side, kneaded in clay with deeper relief, could be a self-portrait of Alberto.
The two brothers had a strong physical resemblance and there is no doubt that Alberto sought also to reach the truth about himself. He voluntarily maintained this ambiguity in an exhibition in 1962 when he chose to name this sculpture Grande tête mince rather than Grande tête de Diego.
1
3/6
2010 SOLD for $ 53M by Christie's
The bronze 3/6 of the Grande Tête Mince, with a dark brown patina, was sold for $ 53M by Christie's on May 4, 2010, lot 13.
2
6/6
2013 SOLD for $ 50M by Sotheby's
The bronze 6/6 was sold for $ 50M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013, lot 15. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1965 Le Nez by Giacometti
2021 SOLD for $ 78M by Sotheby's
In his post war nightmares and hallucinations, Alberto Giacometti lost the discrimination between the living and the dead. He is a sculptor : in 1947 he manages to immobilize this ambiguity in plasters. Fragmenting the human organs, he conceives Le Nez, La Main and Tête sur tige. Questioning the beyond in the same year, he creates his existentialist trinity led by L'Homme au doigt.
Le Nez is a full head hanging to a rope within a cage, so that it cannot be perceived as a mere bust. The threadlike posts and bars of the cage are similar as those conceived by him is the 1930s for staging Surrealist figures. Such an existentialist expression of human forms in a cage had a decisive influence on Francis Bacon.
The narwhal tooth shaped straight nose extends far beyond the volume of the cage, providing a fake liberty to the encaged figure. The mouth is wide open for a scream. The very first plaster also had a red painted tongue and a spiral red clown wrap around the nose.
There is no doubt that the fragile balance of Le Nez was very difficult to transfer to bronze. That was done in 1965 by Susse in an edition of 6 plus 2 additional proofs. The head is cast from a replica of the 1949 plaster while the cage had been narrowed in the previous year for a more protruding effect of the nose. The cage is 81 cm high. Small roundels under the four posts assure a stability to that fragile piece.
The number 6/6 was sold for $ 78M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 14.
Le Nez (The Nose) was conceived in plaster in 1947 (with a revised version in 1949). It follows a different trajectory than L'Homme au Doigt : Giacometti reworked the composition multiple times over the years (altering the cage structure, suspension, and details), but he did not authorize bronze casting until around 1964–65. This delay aligns with his postwar practice for some works—keeping plasters in the studio for ongoing modification rather than immediate editioning—possibly reflecting his relentless pursuit of capturing perceptual "reality" and distance (a phenomenological concern tied to existential themes of alienation and the absurd). The bronze edition (typically 6 casts) was produced later, with examples in institutions like the Centre Pompidou (Paris) and private collections. Original and variant plasters remain with the Fondation Giacometti.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: One of the artist’s most iconic sculptures, Alberto Giacometti’s ‘Le Nez’ brings $78.4M.
Le Nez is a full head hanging to a rope within a cage, so that it cannot be perceived as a mere bust. The threadlike posts and bars of the cage are similar as those conceived by him is the 1930s for staging Surrealist figures. Such an existentialist expression of human forms in a cage had a decisive influence on Francis Bacon.
The narwhal tooth shaped straight nose extends far beyond the volume of the cage, providing a fake liberty to the encaged figure. The mouth is wide open for a scream. The very first plaster also had a red painted tongue and a spiral red clown wrap around the nose.
There is no doubt that the fragile balance of Le Nez was very difficult to transfer to bronze. That was done in 1965 by Susse in an edition of 6 plus 2 additional proofs. The head is cast from a replica of the 1949 plaster while the cage had been narrowed in the previous year for a more protruding effect of the nose. The cage is 81 cm high. Small roundels under the four posts assure a stability to that fragile piece.
The number 6/6 was sold for $ 78M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 14.
Le Nez (The Nose) was conceived in plaster in 1947 (with a revised version in 1949). It follows a different trajectory than L'Homme au Doigt : Giacometti reworked the composition multiple times over the years (altering the cage structure, suspension, and details), but he did not authorize bronze casting until around 1964–65. This delay aligns with his postwar practice for some works—keeping plasters in the studio for ongoing modification rather than immediate editioning—possibly reflecting his relentless pursuit of capturing perceptual "reality" and distance (a phenomenological concern tied to existential themes of alienation and the absurd). The bronze edition (typically 6 casts) was produced later, with examples in institutions like the Centre Pompidou (Paris) and private collections. Original and variant plasters remain with the Fondation Giacometti.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: One of the artist’s most iconic sculptures, Alberto Giacometti’s ‘Le Nez’ brings $78.4M.
- Sotheby's 2021 post announces the $78.4 million hammer price for Alberto Giacometti's 1947 bronze sculpture "Le Nez" (The Nose), a distorted, elongated head exemplifying his post-WWII existential themes, from the high-profile Macklowe Collection divorce sale.
- The buyer, cryptocurrency billionaire Justin Sun of Tron, outbid competitors in a heated auction, underscoring how digital fortunes fuel traditional art markets and Sun's pattern of high-profile acquisitions like Warhol works.
- By 2025, "Le Nez" sparked a public lawsuit when Sun accused entertainment mogul David Geffen of buying it via an unauthorized employee sale, revealing opaque art world dealings and ongoing litigation over ownership.
Existentialist meaning of Le Nez, conceived by Giacometti in plaster in 1947 and 1949.
Alberto Giacometti's Le Nez (The Nose), conceived in plaster in 1947 and revised in a key version in 1949 (later cast in bronze), is one of his most enigmatic postwar sculptures. It features a skeletal human head with hollow eyes, a gaping mouth, and an exaggeratedly long nose protruding horizontally, suspended within an open metal cage-like structure, where the nose piercingly extends beyond the frame.
This work emerged in the aftermath of World War II, a period when Giacometti, deeply affected by death and loss (including personal memories and the broader trauma of the war), grappled with human fragility and mortality. Researchers note that "Le Nez" carries the memory of recent deaths, reflecting the artist's haunting obsession with transience.
Existentialist Interpretations
Though Giacometti's friend Jean-Paul Sartre popularized an existentialist reading of his elongated, isolated figures as emblems of postwar alienation and the absurdity of existence (e.g., in Sartre's 1948 essay "The Search for the Absolute"), some critics argue this was somewhat imposed—Giacometti's despair stemmed more from the impossible quest to capture fleeting reality than pure philosophical romance.
Yet Le Nez powerfully evokes existential themes:
Ultimately, Le Nez embodies the human condition as isolated, anguished, and absurdly striving amid emptiness—a visual echo of existentialist concerns with authenticity, mortality, and the search for meaning in a postwar world stripped of illusions.
Alberto Giacometti's Le Nez (The Nose), conceived in plaster in 1947 and revised in a key version in 1949 (later cast in bronze), is one of his most enigmatic postwar sculptures. It features a skeletal human head with hollow eyes, a gaping mouth, and an exaggeratedly long nose protruding horizontally, suspended within an open metal cage-like structure, where the nose piercingly extends beyond the frame.
This work emerged in the aftermath of World War II, a period when Giacometti, deeply affected by death and loss (including personal memories and the broader trauma of the war), grappled with human fragility and mortality. Researchers note that "Le Nez" carries the memory of recent deaths, reflecting the artist's haunting obsession with transience.
Existentialist Interpretations
Though Giacometti's friend Jean-Paul Sartre popularized an existentialist reading of his elongated, isolated figures as emblems of postwar alienation and the absurdity of existence (e.g., in Sartre's 1948 essay "The Search for the Absolute"), some critics argue this was somewhat imposed—Giacometti's despair stemmed more from the impossible quest to capture fleeting reality than pure philosophical romance.
Yet Le Nez powerfully evokes existential themes:
- Isolation and confinement — The head trapped in its cage suggests entrapment in an indifferent void, mirroring existential notions of human solitude and freedom's burden.
- Fragility and the absurd — The grotesque, phallic nose (evoking Pinocchio's lies or surreal distortions) pierces boundaries aggressively yet futilely, symbolizing a desperate reach beyond limits into nothingness.
- Life-death tension — Inspired partly by Giacometti's 1946 text "The Dream, the Sphinx and the Death of T.," where faces become object-like and deathly, the sculpture hovers between presence and residue—being and non-being—with its skull-like features and suspended form implying a limbo state.
Ultimately, Le Nez embodies the human condition as isolated, anguished, and absurdly striving amid emptiness—a visual echo of existentialist concerns with authenticity, mortality, and the search for meaning in a postwar world stripped of illusions.
