Alberto Giacometti (October 10, 1901 - January 11, 1966) was an important surrealist sculptor and painter. Alberto Giacometti was born in Borgonovo in Val Bregaglia, Switzerland near the Italian border. His father was a painter who encouraged his son's interest in sculpture.

After finishing high school, he moved to Geneva to attend the School of Fine Arts. In 1922 he moved to Paris to study at the Academie de la Grande Chaumie`re in Montparnasse under Rodin's associate, the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929). Before long, he was seen as one of the leading surrealist sculptors of the day. Living amidst the creative community of Montparnasse, he began to associate with artists Joan Miro, Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso.

A perfectionist, Giacometti was obsessed with creating his sculptures exactly as he visioned through his unique view of reality. To his own consternation, because of his drive for perfection, they all ended up being carved small, many no larger than a pack of cigarettes and almost as thin as nails. After his marriage, he was able to make tiny sculptures larger. But the larger that they grew, the thinner they became. Giacometti said that was the way he wanted to represent the sensation he felt when he looked at a naked woman.