| The Palace at 4 a.m. | |
| Type: | Sculpture |
| Artist: | Alberto Giacometti |
| Catalogue: | 80928 |
| Accession: | 90.1936 |
| Height Metric: | 63.5 |
| Width Metric: | 71.8 |
| Length Metric: | 40 |
| City: | New York City |
| Museum: | Museum of Modern Art |
| Owner: | Museum of Modern Art |
The Palace at 4 a.m. is a 1932 surrealist sculpture by Alberto Giacometti. It is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.[1]
Giacometti said the work relates to "a period of six months passed in the presence of a woman who, concentrating all life in herself, transported my every moment into a state of enchantment. We constructed a fantastical palace in the night—a very fragile palace of matches. At the least false movement, a whole section would collapse. We always began it again."[2]
William Maxwell in So Long, See You Tomorrow (1980) links The Palace at 4 a. m. to the narrator's house while it is being built. It is mainly a scaffold structure which he and Cletus climb all over in the evenings. Maxwell uses Giacometti's own description of his inspiration for the piece to convey the freedom and wonder of the boys in this structure.