“All the sculptures of today, like those of the past, will end one day in pieces,” said Alberto Giacometti. “So it is important to fashion ones that work carefully in its smallest recess and charge every particle of matter with life.” With this principle in mind, Giacometti set about looking for a new language for sculpture, which he dubbed “double reality.” The quest brought him from post-Cubist influences to Surrealism, and finally to postwar realism. He also drew inspiration from numerous conversations with 20th-century intellectuals—the writers Georges Bataille, Jean Genet, and Samuel Beckett. In this exhibition, these friendships and influences are placed in conversation with the sculptor’s oeuvre. How did their ideas shape his work? —E.C.