NIKI de SAINT PHALLE
Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), Franco-American artist of Nouveau Réalisme, renowned for her Tirs, Nanas, and Tarot Garden. Screenprints.
Niki de Saint Phalle, Rebellion Turned into Joy of Living
Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) is one of the most popular and liberated artists of the 20th century. After the famous Tirs, where she made paint burst with a rifle, she invented the Nanas, giant, round, and multicolored women, which became symbols of joy and emancipation. With Jean Tinguely, she created some of the most beloved public artworks in the world.
Milestones
- 1930: born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, October 29. Childhood between France and the USA.
- 1950s: model, then self-taught beginnings in painting.
- 1961: first Tirs, linking her to Nouveau Réalisme.
- 1965: first Nanas.
- 1966: Hon, immense Nana-cathedral created with Jean Tinguely at Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
- 1971: marriage to Jean Tinguely.
- 1983: Stravinsky Fountain, next to Centre Pompidou, with Tinguely.
- 1998: opening of the Tarot Garden in Tuscany.
- 2002: death in La Jolla, California, May 21.
A Self-Taught Artist Turned Figure of Nouveau Réalisme
Born into a Franco-American high society family, Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle grew up between France and New York. A model in her youth, she turned to painting in the early 1950s, without formal training. In 1961, her Tirs caused a sensation: she shot a rifle at plaster reliefs containing pockets of color, which burst and flowed over the work. Critic Pierre Restany then associated her with Nouveau Réalisme, alongside Arman, César, and Yves Klein.
The Nanas, a Celebration of Women
From 1965, Niki de Saint Phalle created the Nanas: women with generous forms, dancing, painted in bright colors and joyful patterns. Initially in papier-mâché and fabric, then in polyester, they became monumental. In 1966, Hon, a 28-meter-long reclining Nana that visitors could enter, made global headlines. The Nanas celebrate femininity, motherhood, and freedom, leaving a lasting mark on the collective imagination.
With Jean Tinguely: Major Public Works
Partner and then wife of Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint Phalle collaborated with him on numerous projects: the Cyclop in Milly-la-Forêt, the Stravinsky Fountain in Paris, and many others. Her magnum opus remains the Tarot Garden in Tuscany, a park of habitable sculptures inspired by tarot arcana, to which she devoted nearly twenty years. She made significant donations to the Sprengel Museum in Hanover and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice.
Niki de Saint Phalle's Prints
Lithographs, screenprints, posters: Niki de Saint Phalle extensively practiced printmaking, often accompanied by her own handwritten texts, colorful and full of humor. Her screenprints feature the Nanas, snakes, couples, and figures from the Tarot Garden, with the same energy as her sculptures.
Choosing a Work by Niki de Saint Phalle
Color screenprints are the most direct way to live with her universe: couples, Nanas, suns, and fantastical animals burst with color. Signed pieces and editions from the 1990s, created during her lifetime, are particularly prized. Each work offered by the gallery is precisely described and sold with an invoice-certificate.
Niki de Saint Phalle at Galerie 125
The gallery offers above the screenprint "Couple au soleil," from 1999, joyful and luminous. It is shipped to you promptly, carefully packaged, via tracked and insured delivery, with the gallery's certificate. Discover other great figures of sculpture and color: Alexander Calder, Pol Bury, and Robert Combas.
Do you own a work by Niki de Saint Phalle and wish to sell it? Learn how to proceed on our Sell a work page.