Eschewing a one-size-fits-all definition, Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) liked to consider herself a ‘woman and artist’, not a sculptor, not a painter, not a writer, let alone a performer or model. All that she actually was. Although she never joined the feminist movement, what the Franco-American artist always expressed – above all with her Nanas – is the idea of a powerful feminine. Soft, colourful and gigantic, it is her sculptures in particular that still resonate in our imagination. Niki de Saint Phalle is one of those artists who literally welcomes the viewer into her world, and she does so with her most extraordinary work, the Tarot Garden in Capalbio, Italy.
An open-air work that has cost Niki and the team of artists and artisans she has gathered around her no less than seventeen years of work, during which time the Empress-Sphinx has stayed inside the sculpture. Self-financed thanks to her publications, Niki de Saint Phalle channels all her pain – deriving mainly from the abuse she suffered at an early age from her father – into this undertaking, with a result that is anything but gloomy. The concept of motherhood, birth-rebirth, femininity and love of life are dissected and clearly represented through colourful works made of mosaics, glass, kaleidoscopic motifs, soft and sensual forms that defy gender stereotypes. Her creations, often public, enliven gardens, squares and fountains all over the world. Let’s discover some of them to retrace her thinking.
Tarot Garden – Capalbio, Italy
Stravinsky Fountain – Paris, France
Le Paradis Fantastique outside of Moderna Museet – Stockholm, Sweden
The Grotto, Grosser Garten – Herrenhausen, Germany
New York Avenue Sculpture Project – Washington DC, USA
All the works around the world by Niki de Saint Phalle can be found here.
