The sculpture titled “Woman with Her Throat Cut” was crafted by the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti between the years 1932 and 1940. This artwork, which falls within the Surrealism art movement, is a bronze piece that bears the dimensions of 7 7/8 x 29 1/2 x 22 7/8 inches (20 x 75 x 58 cm). The sculpture is a representation within the genre of surrealist sculpture and can be found at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, New York, in the United States.
The artwork exhibits a morbid and visceral form that lies sprawled on the ground, provoking intense emotions and thoughts in viewers. The bronze medium has been manipulated into organic, elongated shapes and jagged lines, capturing the sense of a body that has been violently distorted. The figure, despite its title, abstracts the human form to an extent that it teeters on the edge of recognition. Giacometti’s skill in using Surrealist principles to evoke subconscious reactions is evident in this work, as it rejects traditional figuration and instead exploits our innate tenderness towards the human form, inserting sharp psychological discomfort. The sculpture’s contorted and fragmented anatomy, a hallmark of Surrealism’s fascination with the disturbed and the dream-like, is intended to confront viewers with the disquiet inherent in the human psyche.
