The World and Fantasy of Niki de Saint Phalle

The French artist Niki de Saint Phalle was an explosively creative woman. Her works extended from paintings, sculptures, stage designs to film and drama. The most striking feature of her works is her innovative style that is direct, courageous, and expressive of her personal mental condition and point of view.

The beginning and development of Niki de Saint Phalle’s artistic creation had to do with her needs in self-transcendence. The call for “looking into oneself” had always played a core role in her creation. In her early assemblages and “Tirs”(Shooting Paintings), with a direct, intuitive and liberating manner, Niki brought out spontaneous works of subconscious invoked during the process of creation. Since then, Niki considered art creation as a way of self-transforming and a therapy for self-healing. She let out the oppression, wounds and dissatisfaction in the process which closely recorded the transformation of her life and her mental condition. In “Nana” series starting from 1960s, Niki had surpassed her personal traumas and inaugurated a dialogue with “the living world”. The result was a colorful and pleasant “female” image that was “Nana”.

The dramatic switches in Niki de Saint Phalle’s artistic life are not only the witness for the artist’s quest for oneself through creations, but a great example of a woman fighting against the social oppression and bondage and searching for an independent and free life. “The World and Fantasy of Niki de Saint Phalle” tour in National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts hosts 71 prominent works from Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Comtemporain in Nice, the Niki Charitable Art Foundation and Fonds National d’Art Contemporain (F.N.A.C). It is indeed a rare opportunity to take a close look at the creative characteristics of this extraordinary artist. I sincerely invite everyone to come to the museum and explore how Niki de Saint Phalle gained the fountain of inner strength through art

The World and Fantasy of Niki de Saint Phalle