The Temple of Dendur, an ancient Egyptian structure that counts among the most beloved attractions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will this summer host an exhibition of sculptures by the Swiss modernist Alberto Giacometti—a rarity, since the Temple of Dendur does not often act as a space for shows of any kind.
The exhibition, simply titled “Giacometti in the Temple of Dendur,” is a small one, with just 17 of the artist’s sculptures. Fourteen of them belong to the Fondation Giacometti, while the rest come from the Met’s collection.
But it is being touted as a major occasion by the Met, whose wing for modern art is currently closed while it undergoes a renovation and expansion. The exhibition also suggests the Met is trying to break down divisions between curatorial departments, linking the distant past with the modern era—something the museum already did with “Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now,” a 2024 show that featured ancient artifacts alongside modern and contemporary artworks inspired by them.
Starting on June 12, Giacometti’s Walking Woman (I), from 1932, will appear in the Temple of Dendur’s offering hall. It’s one of his highly prized sculptures of slender figures that stand tall as they prepare to plod on. Also in the show is Women of Venice (1956), which will be exhibited on the temple’s terrace.
The Temple of Dendur, a structure that dates to around 10 BCE, went on view at the Met in 1978, more than a decade after Giacometti’s death. But the show asserts that Giacometti was inspired by many Egyptian art, which he saw firsthand in Florence and Rome early in his career.
The exhibition is a co-production between the Met’s Egyptian and modern and contemporary art departments, with Aude Semat and Stephanie D’Alessandro acting as their respective representatives. Emilie Bouvard, a curator for the Fondation Giacometti, also worked on the show.
“Giacometti continuously returned to the question of how to infuse his work with the experience of being human,” D’Alessandro said in a statement. “His sustained engagement with ancient Egyptian art offered not only formal clarity but a model for how the figure could embody both stillness and intensity. Seen within and around the Temple of Dendur, his sculptures sharpen our understanding of his lifelong effort to distill the human presence to its most essential form.”
