Niki de Saint Phalle

Best known for her monumental Nana sculpture collection, the French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) left behind a diverse body of work, including performance painting, feminist sculpture, and psychoanalytic film. A self-taught artist, she placed her life and personal ideas at the heart of her art, creating a committed and feminist oeuvre.

Niki de Saint Phalle discovered art and sculpture during a dark episode in her life. After a career as a model, she suffered from depression at the age of 22. Art therapy proved beneficial, helping her overcome her struggles. Unsurprisingly, the future artist quickly found resonance with Art Brut, initiated by Jean Dubuffet, or with Outsider Art.

CAREER AND NEW REALISM MOVEMENT

A self-taught artist and feminist art pioneer, Saint Phalle began painting in 1952, marking the first steps of a "hands-on" artist. Sculpture, architecture, and performance soon followed. She explored a wide artistic work, alternating mediums. Around her, many personalities and sculptors fueled her passion for art in everyday life.

The artist Niki de Saint Phalle aligned herself with the New Realists movement and was surrounded by figures such as Gérard Deschamp, Christo, Yves Klein, and Joan Miró. Among her New Realist artist friends was also her husband, the painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely, with whom she notably delved into monumental outdoor sculpture, including the Stravinsky Fountain, commissioned by the State and located near the Pompidou Museum.

NANA SERIES AND SCULPTURAL PIECES

Aside from her connection to New Realism, Art Brut and Outsider Art, the artist Niki de Saint Phalle is especially remembered for her fire performances work in the 1960s, which brought her international fame, including her kinetic shooting paintings.

Her monumental sculptures also attracted attention a decade later, particularly with her "Golem" or "Monster Park" in West Jerusalem. Always aiming for bigger, she went on to create modern public art, including a sculpture park in Tuscany, the Tarot Garden in Italy, inaugurated in 1998 and directly inspired by Gaudí's park.

But when one thinks of Niki De Saint Phalle's sculptures, one inevitably thinks of the Nana series. An artist who was both feminine and feminist, she created a series of colourful, curvaceous female figures, her "girls", or "nana". These Nana sculptures are ambassadors of modern women, liberated from patriarchy, who assert their power through dance and playfulness.