niki-de-saint-phalle-tarot-garden-1991-moma-ps1
Niki de Saint Phalle, Tarot Garden, 1991. © 2020 Niki Charitable Art Foundation. Photo: Ed Kessler

Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life

MARCH 11 – SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue
Queens, NY 11101

The first major U.S. exhibition of the work of French-born American artist Niki de Saint Phalle will be held at MoMA PS1 in New York City.

From the very outset of her career in the 1950s, Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) defied artistic conventions, creating works that were overtly feminist, performative, collaborative, and monumental. Her first major U.S. exhibition, Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life features over 200 works that highlight Saint Phalle’s interdisciplinary approach and engagement with pressing social issues. Innovation was key to Saint Phalle’s process: From beginning to end, she envisioned new ways of inhabiting the world.

Early on, Saint Phalle pushed against accepted artistic norms, creating artworks that used assemblage and performative modes of production – such as shooting at her canvases – as well as large-scale sculptures like her Nanas. From the late 1960s onwards, Saint Phalle expanded her practice to include architectural projects, sculpture gardens, books, prints, films, theater sets, clothing, jewelry, and, famously, her own perfume. This exhibition foregrounds the artist’s interdisciplinary endeavours, focusing on the visionary architecture and utopian sculpture environments that formed the core of her later work.