ZURICH.- In 2026, alongside its dynamic and diverse exhibition programme, the Kunsthaus Zürich is turning the spotlight on the museum’s centrepiece: the collection, in all its breadth and uniqueness.

The works of Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966) are moving to a new home in the Chipperfield building of the Kunsthaus. The initial presentation opens on 6 February, as a concentrated exhibition of key works from the Surrealist period, as well as the world-famous sculptures from the years after 1945. It is explicitly designed to be the starting point of a larger project: in autumn 2026, the exhibition will be newly curated and substantially enlarged to present the artist’s entire artistic oeuvre in four consecutive rooms.

A 20TH-CENTURY GREAT

Alberto Giacometti is one of the leading artists of the 20th century. Born in 1901 in the Val Bregaglia, Graubünden, he worked as a sculptor, painter and draughtsman in Paris and became world-famous in the process. Giacometti is also of central importance to the Kunsthaus Zürich: thanks to long-term loans from the Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung, it is home to the world’s most important museum collection of his works.

The foundation’s holdings include items from every phase of his career, and they are complemented at the Kunsthaus by works from the Kunsthaus collection and others owned by the Kunstfreunde Zürich. Established in Zurich in 1965, the Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung is built around important acquisitions from the collection of the American industrialist G. David Thompson and works donated by Alberto Giacometti himself shortly before his death. It has been continually expanded over the years, notably with extensive donations by Bruno Giacometti, the artist’s brother, and his wife Odette.

MOVE TO THE CHIPPERFIELD BUILDING

After five years on display in the 1976 Müller building, Giacometti will be relocating to the Chipperfield building from February 2026. The opening exhibition, which is on show in two rooms on the second floor, focuses on the main Surrealist works and iconic sculptures from the post-war period. From autumn 2026 onwards, this presentation will be newly curated and expanded to present the entirety of Giacometti’s oeuvre in four rooms – from the early creations to his late period.

AN ARTIST’S LIFE BETWEEN PARIS AND THE VAL BREGAGLIA

Encouraged from an early stage by his father Giovanni, Alberto Giacometti developed his own unique artistic language in Paris. His innovative objects and sculptures placed him firmly within the Surrealist avant-garde. During the Second World War, he reverted to an intense exploration of the human figure, and evolved the unmistakeable style that brought him global fame: tall, fragile figures and striking busts that redefine the relationship between human being and space. Yet despite his international career, Giacometti retained close ties to the Val Bregaglia region.

A SPECTACULAR NEW LOAN

One particular highlight of the opening exhibition is the first presentation of a new loan from the Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung and a Swiss private collection: a bronze of the key Surrealist work ‘L’Objet invisible’ (1934/35). This celebrated sculpture depicts a stylized female figure, her hands seemingly holding an invisible object; it is a central work of modernism that allows us to grasp the unseen and unknown. The presentation is complemented by a selection of paintings by companions and contemporaries of Giacometti from the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich.

GIACOMETTI 2026

The exhibition opening in February 2026 is explicitly designed as a launch pad. With the major expansion of the exhibition in autumn 2026, the Kunsthaus Zürich is positioning itself as a leading international centre for researching, mediating and presenting the work of Alberto Giacometti, an artist of global rank with strong roots in Switzerland.