The Temple of Dendur at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has played host to performances by the likes of Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, and Lady Gaga at the annual Met Gala. But, this summer, it serves as the backdrop for a different kind of art form. Seventeen of Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s bronze and plaster sculptures are now on display alongside the Roman-Egyptian structure.
Ancient Egypt was a major inspiration for Giacometti’s sculptures of the mid-20th century. Some of his most recognizable forms, including Walking Man, from 1960, and Pointing Man, from 1947, evoke hieroglyphics of figures in profile. The Cat, from 1954, recalls the animal’s sacredness in ancient Egyptian culture.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is highlighting this little-known but important influence on Giacometti’s work with the new exhibit, “Giacometti in the Temple of Dendur.” The installation comes as the museum’s modern and contemporary art galleries remain closed for five years to make way for a new wing devoted to the category. During that time curators are animating other spaces across the Met, creating dialogues across cultures and centuries through art.
Built around 2,000 years ago to honor the goddess of healing, Isis, the temple has resided at the Met since the 1970s, when Egypt gifted the museum the ancient structure to save it from flooding.
Giacometti first encountered Egyptian art as a teenager in Italy, and after moving to Paris at age 20, spent considerable time in the Egyptian galleries at the Louvre and devouring books on the subject. Best known for his highly wrought, elongated bronze figures, the sculptor “was interested in making art that looks eternal, a life that struggles, that fights against death,” says Emilie Bouvard, curator at the Fondation Giacometti, who partnered with the Met on the exhibition. “I think this is something you find in Egyptian art.”
Installation view of Giacometti in the Temple of Dendur, on view June 12 through September 8, 2026 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photos Anna-Marie Kellen, Courtesy The Met
