Giacometti and Bacon Face Off in Basel

The Fondation Beyeler in Basel presents the first major exhibition comparing Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon, two titans of 20th-century art. Curated by Catherine Grenier, Michael Peppiatt, and Ulf Küster, the show brings together 100 works—sculptures and paintings—from major European and American museums and private collections. Despite apparent differences, both artists centered on the human figure, fragmenting the body to express psychological and emotional states through deformation. Both claimed to be "realists" while pushing toward abstraction. Their similarly cluttered, chaotic studios are recreated via 1:1 multimedia projections.