page_title: L'Homme qui marche I
section_title: The sculpture
hierarchical_section_title: L'Homme qui marche I / The sculpture
context_page_description: L’Homme qui marche I is the name of any one of the cast bronze sculptures that comprise six numbered editions plus four artist proofs created by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti in 1961. On 3 February 2010, the second edition of the cast of the sculpture became one of the most expensive works of art ever sold at auction, for $104.3 million. Its price meant it was considered the most expensive sculpture, until May 2015, when another Giacometti work, L'Homme au doigt, surpassed it.
context_section_description: The bronze sculpture depicts a lone man in mid-stride with his arms hanging at his side. The piece is described as "both a humble image of an ordinary man, and a potent symbol of humanity". Giacometti is said to have viewed "the natural equilibrium of the stride" as a symbol of "man's own life force".
  In 1960, Giacometti was asked to be part of a public project by the Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York to plant bronze figures outside the building. He created several sculptures, with L'Homme qui marche I among them. Giacometti struggled with the project and eventually abandoned the commission. However, in 1961 he cast the life-size work in bronze and exhibited it at the Venice Biennale a year later. L'Homme Qui Marche I was created at the high point of Giacometti's mature period and represents the pinnacle of his experimentation with the human form. The piece is considered to be one of the most important works by the artist and one of the most iconic images of Modern art.
  Edition number one of the sculpture is located at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Edition number two belongs in a private collection. Other casts of L'Homme qui marche I include those at the Fondation Maeght in  Saint-Paul, Alpes-Maritimes, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art near Copenhagen, Denmark.
caption: Four views of L'Homme qui marche I depicted on the 1998 version of the 100 Swiss Franc banknote
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