Niki de Saint Phalle

“Niki de Saint Phalle loves myths. She invents them without preoccupying herself with art history or popular traditions, without having studied the civilizations that invented the symbols to try and understand their enigmas. She doesn’t depend on knowledge, but relies on her independence. All her life, Niki de Saint Phalle has been vigilant to preserve what is her strength: her freedom.” Pontus Hultén’s words in the exhibition catalogue Niki de Saint Phalle.

In this auction we are privileged to offer the unique sculpture ‘La Main Gauche’ from the private collection of Pontus Hultén and Anna-Lena Wibom. Hultén and Wibom were Stockholm’s ‘power couple’ in the sixties. Hultén was head of the newly opened Moderna Museet and Wibom responsible for the highly successful Moderna Museet Film Studio. They were both personal friends of Niki de Saint Phalle, who they came to know via Jean Tinguely.

Niki de Saint Phalle’s hand is a recurrent object in her artworks. It has been created in multiple versions and colors; Saint Phalle has used it as a wallpaper design, she has made ceramic hands, and the hand is often included in her lithographs and drawings. The most popular version is the green hand with red nails.

What does Niki de Saint Phalle’s hand represent? The impact of the hand, and the body in general, is significant in Saint Phalle’s art. She works with her bare hands when sculpting her generous figures. The hand is the part of the body that creates, caresses and feels. In one of her lithographs she draws the hand and writes next to it “But I like the way you touch me”.

In Saint Phalle’s exhibition catalogue, Pontus Hultén writes: “The originality of her work comes directly from her personality. This simplicity, this lack of sophistication, which is implied by her work, is in reality a true sophistication, not at all superficial and conventional, but profoundly original.”