“Niki de Saint Phalle” exhibition at Mudec
The exhibition “Niki de Saint Phalle” has been opened to the public on October 5. Organized for the first time at an Italian public institution - such as Mudec -, celebrates the Franco-American artist known for her big, colorful Nanas, but also reveals her busy side through a different interpretation of her work.
“Niki de Saint Phalle”, produced by 24 ORE Cultura – Gruppo 24 ORE, sponsored by the Municipality of Milan – Department of Culture and with Fondazione Deloitte as Institutional Partner, is made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation. This exhibition brings 110 works to Milan, among which a dozen large-scale works, and also one set up in the outdoor courtyard of the Museum, along with a selection dresses from Maison Dior recalling her modeling past in the beautiful photos portraying her, while simultaneously telling the public, about a very “pop” personal vision of art, perceived as a path toward eclectic research, transformation and affirmation of beauty and femininity.
Curated by art critic Lucia Pesapane, who has installed several exhibitions and retrospectives on Niki de Saint Phalle all over the world, this exhibition narrates Niki's artistic life in eight sections, from the beginnings to her latest works. This diachronic yet strongly anthological rhythm retraces her personal life through the colorful, polymorphic, round, and maternal world of her Nanas (and more), revealing a much less colorful and maternal personal life. During her own life, this artist has often had to destroy in order to process grief, then she had to rebuild, breaking the mould through her unconventional artworks, sending messages through her intense provocations, and thus leaving a lasting mark on the art world.
Niki de Saint Phalle, the famous artist who over the past decade has been the focus of numerous retrospectives worldwide, has yet to be recognized in Italy as one of the major artists of the 20th century, although she was one of the absolute protagonists of the avant-garde art scene during the 1960s and 1970s in Europe and in the United States.
