Portrait of woman 1965

Alberto Giacometti made this portrait of a woman with what looks like ink and watercolor on paper. See how Giacometti builds form with a web of lines and washes? It's like he's trying to capture not just what she looks like, but also the very act of seeing her. The color is kept to a minimum - a few strokes of brown and grey, barely there. It’s more about the energy of the marks, the way they build up and dissolve, almost as if he is trying to trap the woman in the frame. Look closely at the hands, they're all knots and tangles, so expressive. They give you a sense of her presence, her nervous energy. Giacometti's work always reminds me of Francis Bacon, that same sense of existential angst. Both artists are constantly searching, never quite satisfied with what they see, and I love that kind of openness, that willingness to keep questioning.