Oil paint on canvas
Tate Modern
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alberto-giacometti-1159" aria-label="More by Alberto Giacometti" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Alberto Giacometti</a>
Seated Man
Purchased 1949
actions: postures and motions
adults
Giacometti, Diego
individuals: male
interiors
legs crossed
man
named individuals
people
portraits
sitting
studio
workspaces
<p>Like his sculptures, Giacometti’s portraits emerged from an intense scrutiny of his subjects, and a process of continually reworking the image in order to record his shifting visual impressions. <span>Seated Man</span> depicts his brother Diego, one of Giacometti’s most frequent models, but even this familiar face became an object of investigation and discovery for the artist, who commented ‘When he poses for me I don’t recognise him’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2012</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
12 May 2000 – 30 November 2001
2001-11-30
12 May 2000 – 30 November 2001
2001-11-30
2000-05-12
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2000-05-12
Alberto Giacometti and Barnett Newman
Collection based display
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
2003-06-21
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2003-06-21
International Modern Art
Collection based display
9 June 2004 – 4 October 2004
2004-10-04
9 June 2004 – 4 October 2004
2004-10-04
2004-06-09
National Gallery (Athens, Greece)
2004-06-09
Six Leading Sculptors and the Human Figure. Rodin, Bourdelle, Maillol, Brancusi, Giacometti, Moore
Loan-out
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
2007-09-15
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2007-09-15
Images of Man
Collection based display
21 July 2012 – 30 November 2014
2014-11-30
21 July 2012 – 30 November 2014
2014-11-30
2012-07-21
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2012-07-21
New Images of Man
Collection based display
26 April 2016
26 April 2016
2016-04-26
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2016-04-26
Studio Practice
Collection based display
8 February 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
8 February 2018 – 19 May 2018
2018-05-19
2018-02-08
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, Canada)
http://www.mnba.qc.ca
8 June 2018 – 16 September 2018
2018-09-16
2018-06-08
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA)
19 October 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
2018-10-19
Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain)
2018-02-08
Alberto Giacometti
Loan-out
8 February 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
8 February 2018 – 19 May 2018
2018-05-19
2018-02-08
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, Canada)
http://www.mnba.qc.ca
8 June 2018 – 16 September 2018
2018-09-16
2018-06-08
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA)
19 October 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
2018-10-19
Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain)
2018-02-08
Giacometti. Retrospective
Loan-out
Seated Man
support: 800 × 540 mm
frame: 859 × 597 × 75 mm
Purchased 1949
<div class="text">
<p>Like his sculptures, Giacometti’s portraits emerged from an intense scrutiny of his subjects, and a process of continually reworking the image in order to record his shifting visual impressions. <i>Seated Man</i> depicts his brother Diego, one of Giacometti’s most frequent models, but even this familiar face became an object of investigation and discovery for the artist, who commented ‘When he poses for me I don’t recognise him’.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2012-07-27T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<strong>Alberto Giacometti</strong> 1901-1966
<p>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/giacometti-seated-man-n05909" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05909</span></a> <strong>Homme assis</strong> (Seated Man) 1949
</p><p>
Inscribed 'Alberto Giacometti' b.r. and 'Alberto Giacometti 1949' on back of canvas<br/>
Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 21 1/4 (80 x 54)<br/>
Purchased from the artist (Benson Fund) 1949<br/>
<em>Exh:</em> <em>Alberto Giacometti: Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings</em>, Arts Council Gallery, London, June-July 1955 (40)<br/>
<em>Lit:</em> Francis Hoyland, 'Giacometti's "Seated Man" ' in <em>The Listener</em>, LXXI, 1964, pp.513-15, repr. p.513<br/>
<em>Repr:</em> Herbert Read, <em>A Concise History of Modern Painting</em> (London 1959), pl.151; John Rothenstein, <em>The Tate Gallery</em> (London 1966), p.176 in colour
</p><p>
The sitter is the artist's brother Diego. Born in 1902, Diego became an artisan and shared Alberto Giacometti's life and work from 1925 onwards as his assistant, model and closest friend. He posed for his brother a great number of times for <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptures</span></a> and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a>. There are several other paintings very similar in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> to this work.
</p><p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
Ronald Alley, <em>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</em>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.279-80, reproduced p.279

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</p>
Catalogue entry
2004-09-14T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults Giacometti, Diego individuals: male interiors legs crossed man named individuals people portraits sitting studio workspaces