Alberto Giacometti & Petrit Halilaj - “We built a fantastic palace at night…” | Exhibitions

Alberto Giacometti & Petrit Halilaj

“We built a fantastic palace at night…”

13 mars - 8 juin 2025

Institut Giacometti

Related to an idea of Giacometti rooted in his

sculpture The Palace at 4 a.m. (1932), the title and

works presented in the exhibition explore the

dynamism of the fantastical and fragile

constructions of the works of both artists. In an

original installation devised by Halilaj, the

exhibition weaves a subtle network of connections

between Giacometti’s works and his own. Dreams,

hopes but also worries and fears merge in fragile

structures that enchant and reveal a capacity to

communicate powerful imaginaries. Facing the

feeling of a precarious world, the works of Halilaj

and Giacometti mobilise a redeeming capacity for

invention.

From a children’s drawing reproduced by

Giacometti, Copy from children’s drawings make in

chalk on the pavement of Boulevard Villemain

(1932), which is on display in the exhibition, Halilaj

creates a subtle and oneiric dialogue by playing on

the connections between his drawing and sculpture

and that of Giacometti’s oeuvre, of which he shows

unusual aspects. Halilaj’s large spatial drawings

that relate to a palace, real as much as imaginary,

give him the opportunity to elaborate on the

importance of the theme of childhood in

Giacometti’s work. The exhibition trail explores the

collaborations between artists and children in the

making of drawings, family bonds, the

transposition of the pictorial vocabulary to

sculpture in Giacometti’s major works like

The Cage, and Apollon, but also the issue of scale

in the apprehension of reality. From the tiniest of

sculptures to pieces like The Couple (1927),

Giacometti’s works blend in a visual environment

set up by Halilaj.

checklist

In an original installation devised by Halilaj, the exhibition weaves a subtle network of connections between Giacometti’s works and his own. Dreams, hopes but also worries and fears merge in fragile structures that enchant and reveal a capacity to communicate powerful imaginaries. Facing the feeling of a precarious world, the works of Halilaj and Giacometti mobilise a redeeming capacity for invention. The exhibition trail explores the collaborations between artists and children in the making of drawings, family bonds, the transposition of the pictorial vocabulary to sculpture in Giacometti’s major works like The Cage, and Apollon, but also the issue of scale in the apprehension of reality. From the tiniest of sculptures to pieces like The Couple (1927), Giacometti’s works blend in a visual environment set up by Halilaj.