8 Things You Might Not Know About Niki de Saint Phalle

In honour of Niki de Saint Phalle. The 1980s and 1990s: Art Unleashed, curator Maude Lévesque reveals 8 little-known facts about this revolutionary artist.

1. Her name wasn’t Niki

   Did you know that Niki de Saint Phalle’s real first name wasn’t Niki (the nickname given to her by her mother), but Marie-Agnès?

    

2. She was a top model

   At 17, Niki de Saint Phalle was the epitome of the beauty standards of the day. After she was spotted by a modelling agency in New York, she quickly made a career for herself; modelling became a fast and easy way for her to earn money. In 1952, she even made the cover of the prestigious Vogue Paris!

    

3. She was a fashion icon

   Niki de Saint Phalle adored beautiful clothes and flamboyant hats. Her years of modelling meant that she had strong ties to the fashion world. In particular, she became a close friend of Marc Bohan, the famous fashion designer who worked at the house of Dior from the 1960s to the late 1980s. In fact, Bohan was so inspired by her elegant bohemian style that he created several outfits especially for her! More recently, Maria Grazia Chiuri (creative director of Dior until 2025) in turn drew inspiration from Saint Phalle as a feminist icon for her Spring/Summer 2018 collection.

    

4. She inspired Gloria Steinem

   Picture it: 1960s Manhattan, 57th Street. Budding feminist icon Gloria Steinem meets a young woman with an unforgettable allure, dressed in a bold cowboy outfit: boots, long black waxed coat, no purse, head held high and hair blowing in the wind. Steinem recalled thinking: “That is the first free woman I have ever seen in real life. I want to be just like her.” Many years later, she would discover the woman’s identity. It was none other than Niki de Saint Phalle!

    

5. She and her partner were the Bonnie and Clyde of art

   Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely shared an intense love affair in the 1960s. Yet surprisingly, when they married in 1971, they had not been together for several years. Even so, their bond remained incredibly strong; their mutual admiration and respect led them to create numerous works as a duo, the most famous of which is undoubtedly the Stravinsky Fountain near the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Saint Phalle’s colourful, curvaceous art was a perfect complement to Tinguely’s unpolished, kinetic creations. While their marriage was not romantic, it did protect their art by making them each other’s beneficiaries.

    

6. She used the Tarot as a guide

   Intuition, often associated with feminine power, played a central role in Niki de Saint Phalle’s life and creative process. The artist regularly called on Tarot cards to guide her decisions, seeing them as a source of inspiration and reflection. During the construction of the Tarot Garden—her monumental sculpture garden in Italy—she even consulted renowned Tarot expert Rachel Pollack for advice.

    

7. She was her own patron

   Niki de Saint Phalle used her ingenuity to finance her ambitious Tarot Garden project. She collaborated with Jacqueline Cochran, famous aviator and owner of a cosmetics line, to launch an eponymous perfume and a collection of derivatives. Their sales helped finance a third of the construction of the Tarot Garden!

    

8. She saw laughter as medicine

   Even though her health was fragile, marked by rheumatoid arthritis and severe lung disease, Niki de Saint Phalle discovered the power of laughter. She would organize group “laughing therapy” sessions, where nervous laughter would quickly turn into genuine, contagious laughter, providing much-needed relief.