Niki de Saint Phalle was a self-taught artist who won respect as a vibrant and original member of the international art scene. This summer, Moderna Museet Malmö is featuring an exhibition of her works.
Despite her lack of formal art studies, and despite the monolithic male dominance of the art scene, French artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) succeeded in establishing herself as one of the most original and colourful artists of the 1960s.
Her shooting paintings (Tirs), where embedded bags of paint burst when shot, spreading their contents across her assemblages and sumptuous reliefs, caused a sensation on the international art scene.
With unique imagination and creativity, she tirelessly delved into eternal and existential subjects such as power and powerlessness, destructive social patterns, gender, love and sexuality. Her prolific artistic output covers a range spanning from artist books and films to monumental sculpture projects. In both her art and her personal life, she reminds us of the inner force that can conquer fear and help us step out into life as ourselves.
The exhibition with Niki de Saint Phalle launches a new series of presentations focusing on seminal artists that are especially relevant to the Moderna Museet collection. It is both pleasing and logical to start the series by featuring Niki de Saint Phalle since her sculpture group Paradise and her internationally acclaimed exhibition SHE have been highly important to the history of Moderna Museet, both in Sweden and internationally.
On the opening day of the exhibition, 12 May at 3 pm, curator Joa Ljungberg will give a guided tour of the exhibition. In Swedish.
Curator: Joa Ljungberg
With support from
