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Niki de Saint Phalle in Toulouse

2301 Views 6 Liked Posted on: March 3rd 2023

Niki de Saint Phalle was a Franco-American sculptor and painter born in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1930. She is famous for beautiful and positive representations of women and outsized sculptures. While de Saint Phalle passed away in 2002, the museum Les Abattoirs in Toulouse has been celebrating her career in an exhibition from October 2022 to March 2023.

 

Les Abattoirs is highlighting de Saint Phalle’s work from the 1980s and 1990s. The museum says that these years were, “marked by a freedom, an emancipation, a diversity of work, a commitment and a model of entrepreneurship that are innovative and exemplary.”

 

In the 1970s, de Saint Phalle began working on a Tarot Garden, which is a sculpture park inspired by Gaudí’s Parc Güell in Barcelona. She worked solidly on this project for two decades. The garden showcasing monumental sculptures and fanciful architecture opened in Tuscany, Italy in 1998. The exhibition in Toulouse begins in 1978 when Niki de Saint Phalle inaugurated the Tarot Garden and follows her life and art through the years to 2002 when she died.

 

De Saint Phalle was intrigued by the idea of the public enjoying art outside a gallery or museum. How did she make this possible? By introducing art into the homes of the general public through creating furniture, jewellery, portable works of art, and even perfume.

 

 If you visit the exhibition, you’ll experience her energy and joy in the motifs and colours she used on her coloured monsters, mosaic sculptures, animals and women, hearts and skulls, exploded paintings and animated films.

 

While the exhibition doesn’t focus on her earlier work, Niki de Saint Phalle originally became famous for her 1960s ‘Shots’ which she created by shooting a rifle at plaster filled with paint. Then, in 1965, she developed a voluptuous female sculpture called ‘Nana’. The Modern Museet in Stockholm then asked her to create an enormous sculpture called, ‘She: a Cathedral’. De Saint Phalle also used her art to create AIDS awarenessafter one of her assistants died from the disease. She illustrated a book called Aids, You Can’t Catch It Holding Hands. 

 

The exhibition will run until March 5th, so this weekend is your last chance to experience Niki de Saint Phalle’s brightly coloured view of life and art. Don’t miss it!

 

 

outsized: très grand

to pass away: décéder

an exhibition: une exposition

to highlight: souligner

a commitment: un engagement

solidly: (ici) entièrement

to showcase: (ici) mettre en valeur

fanciful: fantaisiste

Posted in: Culture

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