Niki de Saint Phalle - Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) is one of the most renowned artists from the mid-twentieth century . With themes ranging from joyful to profound to intellectual, the paradoxical nature of her work has yet to be fully explored. She was one of the first women to receive international acclaim and recognition during her lifetime, as well as to successfully create a public persona. This retrospective, the first major exhibition devoted to Niki de Saint Phalle in twenty years, presents a multifaceted artist, at once a painter, assembly artist, sculptor, printmaker, performer, and experimental filmmaker, and takes a profoundly new look at her work. Over 200 works and archival documents, many unpublished, are set out in over 2,000 square meters, organized by chronology and theme, and punctuated by screens showing the artist talking about her work.

Gwendolyn, 1966–90 Painted polyester on metal frame 252 x 200 x 125 cm Sprengel Museum, Hanover, gift of the artist, 2000. © Niki Charitable Art Foundation, Santee, États-Unis.