Caroline, 1961, Alberto Giacometti

This is Caroline, a Parisian prostitute who became Alberto Giacometti‘s final muse and obsession. Giacometti, who painted this in 1961, four years before his death, would have been 111 today. Some are taken from us much too soon.

I snapped this at the exhibit, Cezanne, Picasso, Giacometti – Masterpieces from the Fondation Beyeler, at the Leopold Museum in Vienna in September 2010, one of more than 250 shots of paintings and sculptures that live on my flickr stream and available via Creative Commons license for those who wish to use them non-commercially. I make a point of visiting art museums when I’m on the road, and began snapping pics of art works obsessively about four years ago. They provide a nice souvenir, but also an entirely different way to look at, study and enjoy the pieces afterwards. And they’re meant to be shared.

The entire Creative Commons set is here – at the moment includes 256 images, in sizes up to 600×900. Everything (I think so, anyway) is tagged with the artist’s name, the title of the work, and the museum where it was shot. Flash photography and tripods are a no-no at virtually all museums, so just about all of these are shot at high speed ASA and oftentimes slow shutter speeds. Most should work fine for web use. Credit is always appreciated, if not received. Instructions are included with each image. (For previous CC updates, check the creative commons tag here on Piran Café.)

But back to the artist and muse. Here’s an abstract of a piece in Apollo Magazine focusing on Giacometti’s obsession and relationship with Caroline, and more is here on Museworthy, a fabulous blog I only found this morning. Check it out!