NIKI DE ST. PHALLE (1930-2002)

Niki de Saint Phalle was born in France, grew up in New York and worked in Europe, mainly in Switzerland and France. As a French-Swiss painter and sculptor, she is the most famous artist of her time and of modern times. Her “Nana” figures made the artist known worldwide. They became her trademark.

In 1962, Niki de Saint Phalle took part in the experimental exhibition Dylaby in Amsterdam. The artists Jean Tinguely, Daniel Spoerri, Per Olof Ultvedt, Martial Raysse and the American artist Robert Rauschenberg were also represented here.

In 1965 she created her first Nana figurine: a colorful sculpture of a woman made of wire and fabric as well as polyester. Niki de Saint Phalle created the largest Nana together with Jean Tinguely and Per Olof Ultvedt. It is in the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. “Hon” is the name of the sculpture, which means “she” in Swedish and is 29 meters high.

Tributes to the art of Niki de Saint Phalle

• 2000 Awarded the Japanese Praemium Imperiale
• 2000 honorary citizen of the city of Hanover – Niki de Saint Phalle donates 400 of her works to the Sprengel Museum in Hanover (Germany)

Exhibitions (in selection)

• 1993/94 “Niki de Saint Phalle. Aventure suisse”, Museum of Art and History, Fribourg
• 2015: Niki de Saint Phalle, Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao
• 2016/17: “I am a fighter” pictures of women by Niki de Saint Phalle, Museum Ostwall, Dortmund (together with the Sprengel Museum Hannover and the Niki Charitable Art Foundation)
• 2016/2017: Niki de Saint Phalle. At Last I Found the Treasures, Art and Culture Foundation Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, Rüsselsheim; Then Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren
• 2017/18: Niki de Saint-Phalle, Museo Ettore Fico, Turin
• 2019/20: Niki de Saint Phalle, Chuck Close, Museo d’Arte della città di Ravenna
• 2020/21: Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s, The Menil Collection, Houston, USA
• 2022: Niki de Saint Phalle, Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt a. M.
• 2023: Niki de Saint Phalle, Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt a. M., in cooperation with the Kunsthaus Zürich

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