Niki de Saint Phalle: “I am a nonagenarian of childbearing age”

Bang, bang, bang! The rifle shots echo throughout the house. At 94, Niki de Saint Phalle continues to make waves with her technique of shot paintings: human-shaped bags of paint that, when hit, form colorful stains and figures. Two assistants hold her, of course, so that the recoil of the weapon doesn't knock her to the floor. The girl who posed as a model for Vogue, Life , and Harper's Bazaar as a young woman, the woman who survived her father's rape, the activist who fled McCarthy's witch hunt, the schizophrenic whose life was saved by art far more than electroshock therapy, the partner of the kinetic sculptor Jean Tinguely, the friend of Sartre and Beauvoir... she has returned to live in France after her time in California, and welcomes this newspaper to her house on the outskirts of Paris, in a huge hangar where she stores several paintings and enormous, colorful half-finished sculptures.

“My sculptures in Collserola will be visible from the plane: Venus, witches, women in labor...”

The Grand Palais in Paris is dedicating a major exhibition to him—along with Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hulten—until January 4.

I was fortunate to be able to participate in the production while still alive, unlike my deceased colleagues. Jean was my great life partner, and Pontus believed in me when no one else did. Other artists even told me: "Go to art school! Learn to paint!"

We would like you to tell us about your controversial project in the Collserola mountains.

I take controversy as a compliment; it's always been that way, ever since the police stopped us on the streets of Paris for noisy parades with our works and pot-banging, blocking traffic without permission. A work of art isn't complete until you include the audience's reaction. Many of my works invite people to enter them, to interact, which in theater is called breaking the fourth wall. About Collserola... I'm known worldwide for the Stravinsky fountain next to the Pompidou, which I made with Tinguely, and I'm happy to see the looks on children's (and adults') faces when they pass by... but a square is nothing; it's too small. When I visited Park Güell in Barcelona, ​​I realized that what we need is comprehensive art, outdoors, and in large spaces. That's why, for twenty years, I created a sculpture forest in Tuscany, Italy, the Tarot Garden, with 22 sculptures, a dialogue between art and nature. It's two hectares, but now we've managed to perform on an entire mountain. These giant Venuses, joyful goddesses of femininity, free and empowered, as well as witches, women in labor, and other sculptures—some of them in motion—will be seen from the planes that arrive in the city. It's poetry. In 1966, I created the largest female sculpture in history, Hon, 28 meters long, one entered her through her vagina, at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. In Barcelona, ​​I'm going to surpass those dimensions. I hope I have enough strength, and if not, it will be Teresa Solar Abboud, who is working with me on the project, who will complete it. I have so many ideas!

Yeah?

The source of my art is imagination, and I only manage to materialize a little less than half of what occurs to me. I'm overwhelmed by my ideas.

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His recent art combats racism and homophobia.

I followed the usual pattern of the rebellious person: first against my family, then against school, where I had many difficulties, and then against my homeland. I felt very uncomfortable in the environment I was born into: I always felt more at home in the kitchen than in the living room. From a very early age, I was aware of the social problems that affected me from my childhood. The same thing is happening now. I express myself, and that automatically causes me to express the situation of women today. In the US, we're in a very bad way. Trump represents white supremacy, wants to erase the history of slavery from museums, and embodies the values ​​of the arrogant macho. That's why I returned to Europe a few years ago.

How does this critical vision fit with some of your friendly figures?

I've been called naive or naive by those who only see large, busty, colorful women, but if you clean your glasses, you'll see sexism, AIDS, patriarchy, violence, death, the climate crisis in my work... Naive? Some people think women should paint flowers; I paint births.

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Why did you start painting?

It calmed the chaos that stirs my soul. Art soothes dragons.

He has said that his art could never be done by a man.

Of course. Can you imagine a man shooting at a frame? It would mean exactly the opposite of me shooting... Women are the great creators. We give birth to babies! People! There can be no greater creation. Men envy that and create a multitude of other stupid things to compensate. I'm obsessed with creation. I'd like to be pregnant every nine months, but since I can't anymore, I continue creating in my own way. I'm nonagenarian, I'm of childbearing age.