Alberto Giacometti Retrospective: The Measure of Humanity and the World at Kunsthalle Bremen
As Bremen’s winter winds whisper along the banks of the Weser River, those who step into the grand halls of Kunsthalle Bremen are welcomed by a melancholic yet captivating journey into the most delicate and fragile states of the human soul. One of the greatest geniuses of modern art, the Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti, returns to Germany with his first comprehensive retrospective in over a decade. Titled “Alberto Giacometti: Das Maß der Welt” (The Measure of the World), this special selection reinterprets the artist’s famously elongated silhouettes—figures that push the boundaries of existence—through a perspective that questions humanity’s unshakable yet profoundly solitary position in nature and the universe.
Prepared in collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti in Paris, this monumental exhibition does not limit itself to Giacometti’s iconic bronze sculptures; it also sheds light on the depth of his paintings, drawings, and prints. In the halls of Kunsthalle Bremen, where more than 100 works are brought together, every figure that emerged from Giacometti’s hands stands before us almost as a soul stripped of its mass. His “walking men” and “standing women” drift within a void while simultaneously defying that void, becoming silent giants that attempt to measure the world with their own slender bodies.
For Giacometti, art was not merely about copying an image, but about capturing the act of looking itself. This retrospective lays bare how he shaped the space around objects and transformed the intricate relationship between human beings and nature into a unit of “measure.” The wide distances between the works create a meditative atmosphere, leaving the viewer alone with the figures and prompting them to confront their own inner emptiness and their place in the world. Those heavy feet rising on impossibly thin legs echo throughout the exhibition as the most poetic proof of humanity’s desperate desire to cling to the earth—and of how fleeting that grip truly is.
Open to visitors until 15 February 2026, this exhibition offers art lovers a unique opportunity to experience Giacometti’s universe in all its nakedness. While Kunsthalle Bremen, located at Am Wall 207, keeps its doors open, it invites visitors not merely to view an exhibition, but to discover the true measure of the world and of being human. The light gleaming on the sharp, rough surfaces of Giacometti’s bronzes promises an artistic feast that will illuminate our souls during the gloomy days of winter.
