Augusto Giacometti (1877-1947) was one of the most important Swiss artists of the early 20th century. Born in Stampa in Bergell (canton Graubünden), he studied in Zurich and Paris and spent years in Florence before settling in Zurich.
Through his training in Paris, he became involved in Art Nouveau. He turned sketches of plants and animals into ornamental works and regular repetitions of the same elements.
These formed the basis for his pastel drawings, in which light and colour were the central means of expression. He was a pioneer who also translated the experience of transparent glass windows and the brightness of butterfly wings into his art.
From the beginning, drawings and works on paper were among his primary means of artistic expression. Here, he developed his visual language between figuration and abstraction. The exhibition focuses on his works on paper and thus shows the foundations of this oeuvre.
The Aargauer Kunstmuseum simultaneously shows the exhibition Augusto Giacometto. Freiheit und Auftrag.