As you can imagine, art exhibitions in Paris are excellent, varied and many.  Some of the world’s most famous galleries are here: the Musée D’Orsay, the Centre Pompidou and certainly not forgetting the Louvre.  It is a shame, then, that the lesser known galleries of Paris get so often overlooked, when they are housing some marvellous exhibitions as well.

One such gallery is the Pinacothèque de Paris.  Open at its current address since only 2007, it’s a young gallery, but its method of displaying regular temporary exhibitions has meant that many prominent artists have had a collection of their work here, including Jackson Pollock and Edward Munch.  Since 2011 the museum has expanded to include a bigger space, and describes itself as “the first Parisian museum where the main display principles are based on transversality and the dialogue between works of art”.  

One of the current temporary exhibitions is Giacometti and the Etruscans, and it has been running since September 2011 with the intention to stay until the first week of January 2012.  This work has been eagerly awaited by fans of Giacometti for over fifty years, from when he first came across Etruscan art in the Louvre and was deeply inspired by it.

Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss artist, particularly known for his sculpture work.  Studying in Paris, he quickly got into cubism and surrealism sculpture, and developed a name for himself.  His sculptures tended to take on a razor-thin, emaciated look, and the taller they became, the thinner they got.  This, he said, was representative of the way he viewed people and in particular women through his view of the world.

The exhibition Giacometti and the Etruscans shows this view perfectly.  Etruscan art refers to the figurative art produced by the Etruscan civilisation in Italy which stretched from the 9th to the 2nd century BC.  Much of Etruscan art is religion-focused, with particular reference to understanding the will of the gods and appeasing them.  The sculpture work of the time was of an unusually slender style and Giacometti was inspired to take this style further and develop it in his own fashion, fusing the two.  One work which inspired Giacometti the most was the Ombre du Soir (the Shadow of the Evening), a tall, stick-thin figure made so many centuries ago.  It, and a hundred and fifty other Etruscan objects form part of the exhibition, along with thirty sculptures by Giacometti.  

The entry fee for the Giacometti and the Etruscans exhibition is €10 at full price, and €8 for concessions. The Pinacotheque is open daily from 10.30 until 18.30 with a late-night opening on Wednesdays and Fridays until 9pm, closing for major holidays.  Full details and also those of other exhibitions at the Pinacothèque de Paris can be viewed here: www.pinacotheque.com