Character Catalog

Artistic performances in which Niki shot a rifle at paintings containing bags of paint; a cathartic and political act blending art and protest.

Monumental sculptures of round, colorful, and triumphant women, which became the emblem of her feminist work and celebration of the female body.

Large installation of a veiled bride adorned with eclectic objects, a sharp critique of marriage and the role imposed on women in Western society.

Public fountain featuring 16 colorful and mobile sculptures in front of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, illustrating the works of Igor Stravinsky and making art accessible to all.

A monumental sculpture park in Tuscany representing the 22 major arcana of the Tarot — a titanic lifelong work, opened to the public in 1998.

A militant illustrated book on AIDS prevention, pioneering in the fight against stigmatization and in disseminating clear information to the general public.

Giant sculpture in the shape of a colorful monster that children can enter through slides; a symbol of her desire to make art playful and accessible.

I was raped by my father at the age of eleven. That is my secret. I kept it for forty years... I killed my father in my shooting paintings. I killed the society that had allowed this.

We want to build a fantastic garden, a dream place where people could enter the sculptures, live inside them, get lost in an imaginary world.

Art is not a luxury. It is a necessity for the human soul. My Nanas are goddesses, mothers, warriors. They celebrate woman as she should be: free, strong and joyful.

Jean Tinguely and I wanted this fountain to be alive, animated, full of color and movement. Art must be accessible to everyone, in the street, for all.

When I shoot, I am not shooting at a man. I am shooting against violence, against war, against the world that oppresses women. Every gunshot is a protest.

Monumental masterpiece of 22 giant sculptures representing the Tarot arcana, built between 1979 and 1998; Niki lived inside the head of the Sphinx for years.

Colorful fountain created with Jean Tinguely in 1983, composed of mobile and aquatic sculptures, in front of the Centre Georges-Pompidou — a symbol of art in public space.

Venue of the legendary 1966 exhibition where three giant Nanas floated on water, marking the beginning of the artist's international recognition.

Main studio where Niki worked for decades, producing her Nanas and experimenting with her polyester sculpture techniques.

The place where she spent her final years and the headquarters of the foundation created to preserve her work; she passed away there in 2002.

The iconic weapon of her 1960s performances: she shot at bags of paint attached to plaster surfaces, transforming violence into an explosion of color.

The base materials of her monumental sculptures; polyester allowed her to create organic, durable forms, but inhaling it gradually destroyed her health.

Niki de Saint Phalle covered her sculptures with colored fragments, creating shimmering surfaces that reflected light and brought her monumental creations to life.

The direct source of inspiration for her Tuscan garden: each large sculpture represents a major arcana of the Tarot, to which Niki attributed a symbolic and personal meaning.

Niki used vivid colors — red, yellow, blue, green — to paint her Nanas, rejecting the muted palette of academic art in favor of an explosion of visual joy.

To fund the construction of the Tarot Garden, she created and marketed her own perfume in the 1980s, whose profits fed directly into the project.