{"id":744774,"date":"2026-06-18T10:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744774\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:38:37","slug":"inside-the-mets-new-giacometti-exhibit-in-the-temple-of-dendur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744774\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Met\u2019s New Giacometti Exhibit in the Temple of Dendur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated2 min read<\/p>\n

The Temple of Dendur at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Museum of Art has played host to performances by the likes of Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, and Lady Gaga at the annual Met Gala. But, this summer, it serves as the backdrop for a different kind of art form. Seventeen of Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti\u2019s bronze and plaster sculptures are now on display alongside the Roman-Egyptian structure.<\/p>\n

Ancient Egypt was a major inspiration for Giacometti\u2019s sculptures of the mid-20th century. Some of his most recognizable forms, including Walking Man, from 1960, and Pointing Man, from 1947, evoke hieroglyphics of figures in profile. The Cat, from 1954, recalls the animal\u2019s sacredness in ancient Egyptian culture.<\/p>\n

\"AncientAnna-Marie Kellen, Courtesy The Met<\/p>\n

A view of bronze sculpture Femme qui marche (1932) by Alberto Giacomett.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is highlighting this little-known but important influence on Giacometti\u2019s work with the new exhibit, \u201cGiacometti in the Temple of Dendur.\u201d The installation comes as the museum\u2019s modern and contemporary art galleries remain closed for five years to make way for a new wing devoted to the category. During that time curators are animating other spaces across the Met, creating dialogues across cultures and centuries through art.<\/p>\n

Built around 2,000 years ago to honor the goddess of healing, Isis, the temple has resided at the Met since the 1970s, when Egypt gifted the museum the ancient structure to save it from flooding.<\/p>\n

Giacometti first encountered Egyptian art as a teenager in Italy, and after moving to Paris at age 20, spent considerable time in the Egyptian galleries at the Louvre and devouring books on the subject. Best known for his highly wrought, elongated bronze figures, the sculptor \u201cwas interested in making art that looks eternal, a life that struggles, that fights against death,\u201d says Emilie Bouvard, curator at the Fondation Giacometti, who partnered with the Met on the exhibition. \u201cI think this is something you find in Egyptian art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AncientAnna-Marie Kellen, Courtesy The Met<\/p>\n

Installation view of Giacometti in the Temple of Dendur, on view June 12 through September 8, 2026 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

One of his earliest works, Walking Woman (I), from 1932\u2014 \u201cwhich is really very Egyptian,\u201d says Bouvard\u2014is positioned in the temple\u2019s offering hall, where the deity\u2019s statue would have been placed. On the outside wall, as if climbing up the bricks, is his bronze cat with its extended neck and tail. Groupings of his standing figures gather on the temple\u2019s raised platform, as if they had come to worship the divine presence, as Egyptians did during festive occasions. Several of the sculptures are fragile painted plasters from the Giacometti Foundation, on a rare loan before they are put on permanent view at the new Giacometti Museum in Paris, opening in 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see Giacometti’s figures reanimating this incredible work of ancient Egypt, and also for Giacometti sculptures to be in the context of a culture that he loved so much,\u201d says The Met\u2019s modern art curator Stephanie D\u2019Alessandro, \u201cis a once-in-a-lifetime, only-at-the-Met kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2 min read The Temple of Dendur at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Museum of Art has played host to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,2910,266907,356,784,75,237154,1642,194180,266906],"class_list":["post-744774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-feature","tag-contentid-cbbd8a72-8de9-4365-833e-954ca28a83ba","tag-design","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-read_time-3","tag-shorttitle-inside-giacometti-in-the-temple-of-dendur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}