Niki de Saint Phalle

[Blue Nana, 2000]

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 - 2002)

French sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author/illustrator;

with no formal art training, she was a noted "outsider" artist

and a rare female monumental sculptor;

one of her most famous creations is the Tarot Garden in Tuscany,

a large sculpture garden of huge, tarot-themed works;

her other most famous creations are "Nanas," a series of

light-hearted, whimsical, colourful, large-scale sculptures

of animals, monsters, and female figures;

she is now acknowledged as "one of the most significant 

female and feminist artists of the 20th century,

and one of the few to receive recognition in the

male-dominated art world during her lifetime."