Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art on 16 May will offer a selection of five sculptures from the Finns’ collection, with works by Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Arp, Germaine Richier and Marino Marini together estimated in excess of $17 million. This group is united further by the fact that each piece was conceived in the late 1950s, during the period of turmoil and uncertainty following World War II.

The five works are led by Alberto Giacometti’s Buste de Diego, one of the artist’s most formally-radical and visually-engaging sculptures. Measuring just over two feet in height, the work’s significant size contributes to its robust personification of the Existentialist movement during the contentious years of the Cold War. The sculpture presents the strong profile and rich, textural surface, which distinguished the artist’s best work.

The majority of Giacometti’s works from this time were designed and molded from the artist’s memory. The bust depicts one of Giacometti’s most frequent inspirations: his younger brother Diego, with whom he shared physical traits, manifesting into the autobiographical narrative reflected in this signed work. The figure’s expressive features are emboldened through Giacometti’s hands-on matiere petrie, or “kneaded method”, which is reflected in a number of characteristics: the tactile indentations and folds depicted in Diego’s jacket, captivating eyes, an accentuated nose, and parted lips—a telling attribute capturing the anticipation of a moment yet to arrive.