Design of the eighth banknote series
The 100-franc note
Main colour: Blue
Dimensions: 159 x 74 mm
Date of issue: 1 October 1998
Personality: Alberto Giacometti
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Microtext (front)
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI ÉMINENT PLASTICIEN DU SURRÉALISME OUVRE DE NOUVELLES VOIES AU MODERNISME - NOTRE ÉPOQUE SE RECONNAÎT DANS SON OEUVRE QUI MONTRE L'ÊTRE HUMAIN DANS TOUTE SA VULNÉRABILITÉ
IMPORTANTE SCULTORE DEL SURREALISMO ALBERTO GIACOMETTI APRE NUOVE STRADE AL MODERNISMO - LA SUA OPERA CREA L'IMMAGINE IN CUI SI RICONOSCE UN'EPOCA L'INDIVIDUO IN BALIA DELLO SPAZIO CHE LO AVVOLGE
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'Lotar II' (1964)
This bronze bust shows Giacometti's fascination with surfaces. They underwent a stark transformation under his fingers and modelling knife, giving many of his figures the appearance of bare rock. The unevenness of the texture creates an intensive play of light and shade.
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'Homme qui marche I' (1960)
The walking man - shown here from four different perspectives - is one of Giacometti's best known figures. In it, the artist has captured a physical movement. For Giacometti, the natural equilibrium of the stride symbolises man's own life force.
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Time-space relationship
This sketch stems from Giacometti's 1946 memoir: 'Le Rêve, le Sphinx et la mort de T.' Because the linear narrative style was inadequate to express his experience, Giacometti tried a sculptural solution: time is represented as a horizontal disc, the individual segments stand for various events. The panels at the edge tell the relevant stories.
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Microtext (back)
ALS BEDEUTENDER PLASTIKER DES SURREALISMUS ÖFFNET ALBERTO GIACOMETTI DER MODERNE NEUE WEGE - SEIN WERK GESTALTET DAS BILD IN DEM SICH DIE EPOCHE ERKENNT - DIE LEBENDIGE ERSCHEINUNG DES INDIVIDUUMS IN SEINEM AUSGESETZTSEIN
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI L'IMPURTANT SCULPTUR DAL SURREALISSEM AVRA NOVAS VIAS AL MODERNISSEM - SIA OVRA CREESCHA IL MALETG EN IL QUAL L'EPOCA S'ENCONUSCHA LA MANIFESTAZIUN VIVENTA DA L'INDIVIDI EXPOST A TUT ILS VENTS
Remember this man's picture.
The portrait on the front of the 100-franc note shows Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), one of the 20th century's most important sculptors. Giacometti made his reputation in the 1930s, with sculptural works in the Surrealist style. But it was his later figures that brought him wider fame. The characteristic Giacometti style first appeared in 1946: attenuated figures which seem almost massless and weightless. The female figures are seen frontally, with feet together, arms pressed to their sides and clump-like feet. The males are usually striding. The figures seem solitary and somehow far-off. In his work, Giacometti was trying to render complexity and the brimming experiences of reality. This is also apparent in his painting, which is highly expressive and stripped of all illusion.