9th
April
2010




Niki
De
Saint
Phalle






Niki
was
a
very
talented
artist.
She
started
in
drama,
and
then
decided
to
become
an

artist.
She
painted,
sculpted
and
even
was
a
movie
Producer
!
She
is
one
of
the
most

famous
artist
in
the
20th
Century,
known
for
her
‘nanas’,
the
sculpture
and
for
being
one

of
the
first
woman
to
become
an
artist
at
that
time,
completely
putting
behind
the
idea
of

woman
staying
at
home
to
cook
and
raise
children.

She
was
a
very
violent
and

depressed
woman,
but
putting
it
all
into
her
paintings,
using
violence
and
death
in
her

works,
that
is
what
made
her
continue.



A
bit
of
her
Life…

Catherine
Marie‐Agnes
Fal
de
Saint
Phalle
was
born
in
France,
in
Neuilly‐sur‐Seine
on

October
30
1930.
She
is
the
second
child.
Her
father
worked
with
his
seven
brothers
in

the
banking
house.
When
the
bank
collapsed
in
1930,
Nicki
is
sent
to
Nievre
with
her

paternal
grandparents,
where
she
will
spend
the
next
three
years
there.


In
1933,
Nicki
goes
to
the
U.S.A,
in
Greenwich
(Connecticut)
and
she
refinds
her
parents.

In
1937,
her
parents
move
to
New
York,
and
Niki
goes

to
the
Convent
School
of
the

Sacred
Heart,
however
in
1941
she
is
expelled.

In
1942,
she
moves
to
Princeton,
in
the
New
Jersey
with
her
grandparents.
The

grandparents
had
to
move
away
from
France
because
of
the
Second
World
War.
Niki

attends
the
local
school
in
Princeton.

Niki
moves
back
with
her
parents
and
attends
Brearly
School
where
she
starts
Learning

how
to
act
and
the
art
of
poetry.
She
writes
few
poems
among
which
is
La
Peste.

In
1944,
Niki
paints
part
of
a
statue
bright
red.
The
director
suggests
that
she
leaves
or

goes
to
a
psychiatric
treatment.

Her
parent
sent
her
to
Convent
School
at
Suffren,
in

New
York.

In
1947,
Niki
graduates
from
Oldfield
School,
which
is
in
Maryland.
From
1948
to
1949,

Niki
works
as
a
model
for
Vogue
and
other
various
magazines.
She
then
gets
married
to

Harry
Mathews
at
the
age
of
eighteen.
He
is
nineteen,
and
a
U.S
marine.

In
1950,
they
get
remarried
to
Niki’s
parent
wishes
in
french
Church
in
New
York.
The

couple
settle
Cambridge,
in
the
Massachusetts
state.
He
studies
music
in
the
Harvard

University,
and
she
starts
painting.
Niki
gives
birth
to
their
first
child,
a
little
girl,
in

1951.

In
1952,
Niki
and
her
family
move
to
Paris.
Harry
continues
studying
music
and
she

studies
drama.
They
visit
a
lot
of
museums
and
cathedrals
in
France,
Spain
and
Italy.

Niki
is
interrested
by
the
idea
that
a
cathedral
is
the
result
of
a
«
collective
ideal
.
»
This,

later,
will
have
an
important
impact
on
her
work.

In
1953,
she
has
a
nervous
breakdown.
Niki
paints
and
that
helped
her
a
lot
to
overcome

the
crisis
and
stress
of
her
life.

She
gives
up
drama
and
decides
to
become
an
artist.
She

begins
to
be
obsessed
about
being
an
artist.

In
1954,
she
meets
Hugh
Weiss,
an
American
artist.
He
will
become
her
mentor
for
the

next
five
years.
The
next
year,
Niki
gave
birth
to
her
son,
Phillip.
She
visits
Barcelona,

where
she
sees
Gaudi’s
work.
She
is
very
impressed
an
now
has
a
dream
of
having
a

garden
with
her
sculptures.

On
April
1956,
she
does
an
exhibit
of
her
oil
paintings
in

[Link].
From
1956
to
1958,
Niki
meets
various
writers
with
Harry,
and
visits
the

Louvre,
which
inspires
her.
For
the
first
time,

she
will
take
on
of
Jean
Tinguely’s

sculpture
and
cover
it
with
plaster.

In
1960,
she
seperates
with
her
husband.
From
there,
she
will
start
experimenting
with

her
sculptures.

In
1971,
she
marries
french
sculptor
Jean
Tinguely.

She
achieved
her
dream
in
1979
when
she
aquiered
a
piece
of
land
in
Tuscany,
where

she
worked
for
20
years
on
her
sculptures.

She
died
in
2002
of
a
pneumonia.






Niki
De
Saint
Phalle
when
she
worked
as
model.









Her
works
and
their
meaning



One
of
her
most
famous
works
must
be
the
Tarot
Garden,
which
was
her
dream
for
very

a
long
time.

When
she
was
young,
her
mother
wasn’t
very
good
to
her,
and
Niki
had
to
create
her

own
values
of
life.
Her
parent’s
expectation
of
her
was
that
she
should
marry
a

gentleman
of
high
statue.
She
was
despised
by
her
mother,
and
hated
her
father
for

when
she
was
eleven,
he
had
tried
to
make
her
his
mistress.
Running
away
from
her

parent’s
expectation,
that
is
also
expressed
in
her
works.

In
her
past,
she
was
expelled
from
a
school
because
she
tried
painting
a
statue
bright

red.
Not
only
was
her
art
strange
to
some
people,
although
it
wasn’t
too
strange
since

abstract
and
cubism
had
been
here
for
a
while,
she
was
one
of
the
first
woman
artist.
She

defied
the
rules
that
woman
should
stay
at
home
and
cook.

She
defied
the
‘male
world’.

First,
she
started
with
paintings.
She
would
go
and
buy
pieces
of
bricks
and
stones
and

put
them
into
her
paintings.
She
said
that
it
represented
her
heart.
Beautiful
yet
broken.

Later,
when
she
was
with
Jean
Tiguely,
they
took
guns
and
shooted
at
things
filled
with

paint.
Niki
put
her
anger
and
depression
in
each
single
gun
shot.
In
her
paintings,
we
can

see
her
hate
for
society,
men
in
general,
her
mother.
She
went
throughout
the
countries

and
showed
her
paintings,
sometimes
even
shooted
in
front
of
people.
Her
career
was

now
boosted,
for
she
was
famous
throughout
the
countries.
She
had
achieved
one
of
her

goals
:
become
a
proffesional
artist.

After
that
came
death
and
sadness.
She
would
go
and
take
simple
object,
like
a
doll
and

make
a
collage
with
other
objects.
She
portrayed
woman
in
society‐>
Brides,
mother

giving
birth
etc…

After
the
death
and
sadness,
she
had
a
new
feeling
with
she
expressed
when
she
started

sculpting.
Love,
and
happiness.
She
fell
in
love
with
Jean
Tiguely,
and
she
wanted
to

express
that
in
her
sculpture.
Her
first
sculpture
was
created
in
1965.
It
was
a
sculpture

completely
different
from
what
had
been
seen
before.
The
statue
was
colorful
and

represented
a
woman.
She
named
her
sculptures
the
nanas.
Basically,
a
nana
was
a

sculpture
with
no
face,
that
wasn’t
very
realistic
but
was
very
colorful.
It
was
originally

made
of
papier
mache,
but
later
she
also
used
polyster.




Nana
Vase,
Niki
De
Saint
Phalle,
1993,
Polyester
paint
,
Contemporary




As
you
can
tell
on
this
sculpture,
it
is
not
realistic.
The
woman
is
completely
black
but

wears
very
bright
colors,
rainbow
like
colors.
Instead
of
having
a
right
arm,
she
had
a

yellow
thing.
These
sculptures
are
created
just
after
the
Second
World
War,
and
she
had

a
nervous
breakdown,
and
her
divorce.
The
meaning
of
each
of
her
sculpture
is
very

deep.

They
symbolize
her
feelings,
her
life.

Nanas
in
french
means
chicks,
and
it
was

also
a
way
to
show
Niki’s
feminite.






Niki
De
Saint
Phalle,
La
Fete



In
1966,
Niki
is
asked
to
create
a
big
nanas
for
the
swedish
museum
Moderna.

It
was
28
meters
long,
and
was
full
of
colors.
Niki
herself
said
that
the
nanas
was
like
a

godess,
so
great,
so
big,
eating
everyone
up
as
they
entered.






Niki
De
Saint
Phalle,
Hon,
1966,
Moderna
(Swedan)

The
Tarot
Garden



The
Tarot
Garden
is
known
to
be
Niki’s
most
famous
work.
It
took
her
about
fifteen

years
to
build
it.
She
bought
some
land
near
the
sea
shore
in
Tuscany.
Then
she
started

her
project,
working
for
fifteen
year.
It
was
place
designed
to
dream
and
relax.
In
there,

you
can
see
Niki’s
determination,
faith
and
hard
work.
She
was
obsessed
with
her
idea.

She
designed
the
22
architectal
tarot.
Everything
was
made
of
different
materials,

makng
it
even
better
and
unique
to
see.
It
was
the
perfect
harmony
between
nature
and

art
work.

However,
how
did
she
manage
to
get
all
this
money
?
Well
she
got
helped
by
her
friends,

but
also
she
created
a
line
of
perfume
called
Niki
De
Saint
Phalle.








She
designed
the
perfume
bottle
herself.
However,
Niki
soon
faced
another
problem.
She

couldn’t
sculpt
anymore
because
she
suffered
athritis.
But
that
didn’t
stop
her.
She
told

everyone
what
to
do,
and
continued
working
hard.
All
of
that,
it
can
be
seen
in
her
Tarot

Garden.








This
was
the
magicien,
symbolizing
god
:
the
creator
of
earth.
It’s
on
the
highest
peak
to

show
all
its
glory.
It
is
watching
over
all
the
Tarot
Garden,
it’s
protecting
anyone
who

enters.



Death.
Without
death,
life
would
have
no
meaning.
It’s
represented
by
a
skeleton
on
a

horse,
killing
people
along
the
way.






The
Sun.
This
is
represented
like
this
because
the
bird
is
the
closest
thing
to
the
sun.



Strengh.
The
lady
beats
the
dragon
with
an
invisible
thread.
The
true
monster
the
lady

must
face
is
inside
herself.



The
Tarot
Garden
is
a
place
where
surnatural
is
almost
real.
In
a
way,
Niki
put
her

feelings
of
all
of
what
has
happened
throughout
her
life.




After,
in
1993,
due
to
health
problems,
she
moved
to
California.
There
she
continued

creating
statues
full
of
colors,
focusing
herself
more
on
public
statues.

Even
nowadays,
Niki
is
a
inspiration
for
all
young
woman.



This
concludes
the
essay
on
the
meaning
and
life
of
Niki
De
Saint
Phalle
and
her
work.