Biography and Identity

Real name: Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle, born in 1930 to an American mother and a French father.

"Niki" was the pseudonym that accompanied her throughout her artistic career.

A dark secret that shaped her life

At the age of 11, Niki was raped by her father, a trauma that would affect all of her creativity.

She only publicly confessed it in the book "Mon Secret" (My Secret) in 1994, when she was 64 years old.

From model to artist

At the age of 17, she started as a model, posing for Vogue, Elle, and Life.

At the age of 25, she abandoned fashion to devote herself fully to art.

Art as therapy

After suffering a nervous breakdown and being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, he began painting.

Painting became her means of translating pain, fear and hope into art, saving her from depression.

The “shootings” that made her famous

In 1961, she created the series “Les Tirs” (The Shots), where she shot at the canvas with a rifle.

This act symbolized rebellion against her father, society, and personal pain, becoming a sign of her emotionally powerful art.

Activism and femininity

She was engaged in the fight against racism, inequality, and the lack of women's rights.

Her art represented the free, sensitive and powerful woman, challenging traditional models of femininity.

“Nanas” – the symbol of empowered women

In 1965 she created the sculptures "Nanas", large, colorful figures that embodied joy, freedom and the female body.
She was inspired by her pregnant friend, Clarice Rivers.

A multidisciplinary artist

He made the film "Daddy", a courageous confrontation with childhood trauma and the father figure.

He collaborated with director Peter Whitehead, known for his experimental and emancipatory films.

“The Tarot Garden”

Between the 1970s and 1990s, he built Le Jardin des Tarots in Tuscany, Italy – a monumental park with figures inspired by Tarot cards.

Some sculptures were so large that Niki lived inside them during construction.

End of life

Working with toxic materials severely damaged her lungs.
She died in 2002, at the age of 71, from respiratory failure.

The essence of her legacy

Niki de Saint Phalle remains an icon of contemporary art, a woman who turned pain into creativity and who used art as an act of rebellion and healing. Her art is an ode to femininity, strength, and inner freedom.