FOR ART | Invitation to the exhibition opening
Tuesday, November 4, 2025, 6 to 8 p.m.
Alberto Giacometti | The Graphic Works – Gross Collection
Friday, November 7 to Saturday, December 13, 2025
Exhibition open:
Fridays and Saturdays, 11 am – 6 pm, or by appointment (info@klauslittmann.com)
Entrance: Rittergasse 25, CH-4051 Basel, free admission
Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966)
The Graphic Works – Gross Collection
Even if he never fully trusted it, Alberto Giacometti knew the line like no one else. For him, drawing was the foundation of all artistic creation. Whether depicting a human figure, an interior, or a landscape, he probed his subject, wresting it from the fleeting moment while trembling for its very existence. At times, he cast his motif onto the surface with rapid urgency; at others, he tenderly etched a face from the white of the page or impatiently took stock of his Paris studio.
Giacometti’s lithographs and etchings began circulating in editions and literary publications from the 1930s onward. Over decades, hotelier and restaurateur Carlos Gross (1953–2023) assembled a comprehensive collection of these printed works. In the village of Sent in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, he left behind not only the Pensiun Aldier but also the most extensive private collection of Giacometti’s prints.
Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966)
Paris sans fin
«Paris sans fin» is both an intimate reportage and Giacometti’s legacy to Paris. In 150 lithographs, the artist traces his countless paths through the city – from his studio to cafés, to the Natural History Museum, or the Jardin des Plantes. His feverish observation of his surroundings reveals him as a bar-goer, a flâneur, and, not least, a passenger. After buying his lover a red MG, Caroline drives him through narrow streets and across wide boulevards. She lends his line the speed of the motor age and becomes the first witness to his pursuit – of reality, of space, of people and their shared stories.
«Paris sans fin» was published in 1969 by Giacometti’s friend and editor Tériade, three years after the artist’s death. Following its first complete presentation in Austria and Italy by Littmann Kulturprojekte in 2018-2019, the series now returns to Basel.
Video, Photos: Serkan Deniz and Aleyna Deniz, Littmann Kulturprojekte
Basler Zeitung, Lukas Nussbaumer, 3.11.2025
more about FOR ART – A Temporary Art Intervention by Littmann Kulturprojekte. Basel 2025–2028
