Alberto Giacometti retrospective at Tate Modern

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In February 2010, a 6ft bronze sculpture of a slender, striding man titled 'L'Homme qui marche I' went up for auction at Sotheby's. Experts predicted that the 1961 Alberto Giacometti artwork, part of a series of six bronze casts, would go for around £40m. There were audible gasps when the gavel concluded a £65m sale. 'L'Homme qui marche I' remains one of the most expensive artworks ever sold at auction and was, at the time, the most expensive sculpture ever sold – a record that was surpassed five years later by the same artist.

This month, Tate Modern is to host the UK's first major Giacometti exhibition in over 20 years. The comprehensive retrospective brings together more than 250 artworks including rare drawings, plasters and personal letters alongside famous work spanning the Swiss-born artist's entire career. One of the highlights is the restored 'Women of Venice' series, originally created for the 1956 Venice Biennale, which will be on display in its entirety for the first time in six decades.

Although he may be one of the less instantly recognisable giants of 20th century art, Giacometti remains one of its most influential and popular figures. A skilled painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Giacometti is most famous for his elongated bronze sculptures – a series as distinctive as Picasso's patchwork portraits or Lichtenstein’s Ben-Day dot comic-inspired paintings.

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Giacometti was born into an artistic family in 1901 and developed an interest in painting from a young age. His father Giovanni was a respected Post-Impressionist painter and his brothers Diego and Bruno found success in art and architecture respectively. Giacometti studied under the great Antoine Bourdelle in Paris in the early 1920s, and remained at his unassuming studio at 46 rue Hippolyte-Maindron – where he entertained the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre, Henri Matisse and Marlene Dietrich – throughout his career. Sections of the studio's wooden walls, which feature Giacometti’s obsessive sketches and drawings, will also be on display at the exhibition.

Following an early association with Andre Breton and Surrealism, Giacometti abandoned the movement to pursue his own vision. His fragile, exaggerated figures became popular symbols of post-war trauma and are associated with existentialism and themes of melancholy and alienation. Giacometti was obsessed with depicting a palpable sense of spatial distance and experimenting with the reality of the human form. He stated that: 'The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.'

Tate Modern's exhibition presents a comprehensive understanding of the artist by putting the spotlight on his work in plaster, clay and paint. It offers a new perspective on Giacometti's creative methods as well as a rare opportunity to see a substantial collection of his work as the artist intended.

Giacometti at Tate Modern has been organised by Tate Modern and Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, Paris. It runs from 10 May until 10 September 2017, tickets £18.50; tate.org.uk