Niki de Saint Phalle

Niki de Saint Phalle (Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle, 1930-2002) was a French-American painter and sculptor. She grew up in New York and, after a nervous breakdown in the 1950s, discovered painting as therapy and vocation.

She gained international recognition through her 'Nana' figures: colourful, life-size polyester sculptures of women. Her 'shooting happenings', in which she fired at paint-filled canvases, made her an icon of performance art.

She collaborated with sculptor Jean Tinguely (her later husband) on works such as the Stravinsky Fountain in Paris. Over fifteen years she created the Tarot Garden in Tuscany. Health problems caused by polyester fumes led her to move to San Diego, where she died in 2002.