From September 17 to October 25, 2015, the Jan van der Togt Museum dedicated an exhibition to the work of Niki de Saint Phalle. The exhibition included the monumental relief 'Last Night I Had a Dream' from 1968, as well as beautiful examples of the expressively colored Nanas, which made the French-American artist world famous.
In 1961, Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002)—together with Jean Tinguely and the other artists of the 'Nouveaux Réalistes' group—took part in the iconic exhibition 'Bewogen Beweging' (Movement in Motion) at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. There she exhibited the work 'Saint-Sébastien' (Portrait of my Lover): a white shirt with a dartboard for a head, at which visitors were allowed to throw darts.
De Saint Phalle caused a sensation with her 'shooting paintings': pristine white canvases covered in plaster, under which small bags of brightly colored paint were hidden. She shot at the canvas with a carbine, causing it to 'bleed' in whimsical patterns. Dressed in a white jumpsuit, her shooting performances made headlines around the world.
"I shot at men, the church, and society that oppress women. It became an addiction; after a while, I had to stop," she later said about these actions. "Shooting freed me from deep frustrations that were rooted in the oppressive, rigid environment of my childhood."
A year later, De Saint Phalle took part in the exhibition 'Dylaby' (Dynamic Labyrinth), also at the Stedelijk Museum. A room full of prehistoric monsters, plastic animals, and mannequins: all painted white and set in motion by electric motors made by Tinguely.
Her sculpture 'HON / SHE', which De Saint Phalle created together with Tinguely and Per Olov Ultvedt for the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, caused quite a stir. It depicts an enormous reclining woman with an entrance between her legs. Once inside, the public could enjoy a drink at the bar, listen to jazz, watch old films by Greta Garbo and others, and admire paintings. At the end of that year, Swedish newspapers reported that the birth rate had doubled!
Her life's work is the 'Giardino dei Tarocchi', the Tarot Garden in Garavicchio, Tuscany. Friends gave her a piece of land where she spent more than 15 years creating a magical garden based on the Major Arcana of the tarot deck. She herself went to live in the third card of the deck, the Empress, in the form of a sphinx. De Saint Phalle felt protected there from adversity and the scorching climate; the living room felt like a lap in which she could relax. The 22 monumental sculptures are covered with ceramics, colored glass, and mirror mosaics. In 1982, Dutch artist Doc van Winsen came to help her make the steel structures for the sculptures. De Saint Phalle was inspired by Gaudí's Parc Güell in Barcelona and the gardens of Bomarzo (the 'Park of Monsters') in Viterbo, which was probably designed in the 16th century by Count Vicino Orsini in memory of his wife, who died young.
Together with her partner Jean Tinguely, De Saint Phalle designed the fountain on Place Igor Stravinsky near the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Fifteen sculptures dance on the water or spray water, inspired by the music of Igor Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps'.