Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), an icon of feminist art, worked with a variety of mediums, from sculpture to painting to installation and also film. Born a French native, the artist moved and lived in various parts of the world, from a childhood and schooling in New York City, to the Balearic islands, where she was introduced to the architectural style of Gaudí, to Paris, where she met fellow artist Jean Tinguely, who would later become her husband.

In the early 1960s, she became part of the Nouveau Réalisme movement alongside Tinguely, Yves Klein, and Arman, and others, de Saint Phalle was the only woman of the group. Her larger than life sculptures have found homes in various public spaces, including the delightful Tarot Garden, located in the Tuscan countryside. Perhaps her most well known artworks, the Nanas series, are composed of large-scale feminine figures that seem to leap through the air, painted in an almost kaleidoscope style of colours, however they demonstrate a non-traditional view of the female body. De Saint Phalle’s sculptures do not conform to the stereotypes of female beauty as established by Western society and art narratives. Coming from the French slang for girls, the Nanas are curvy, with exaggerated breasts, buttocks and thighs, accentuated with flowers and patterns. One of these sculptures, Gwendolyn (1966-1990), was presented at the main exhibition in the 2022 Venice Biennale’s Arsenale. 

As part of her filmography, another medium of her artistic expression, de Saint Phalle completed Un rêve plus long que la nuit in 1976, having previously worked on Daddy in 1973. The film follows the story, in almost fairy tale fashion, of a young girl who meets a friendly dragon and a benevolent witch, who grants her wish to become a woman. Clearly made in the 70s Zeitgeist and with surrealist influences, the film makes references to sexual decadence with harems and worshipping of phallic sculptures.  

“The film is an imaginary and poetic ballad, a marvellous tale that can be seen as the dream of a night brought to life… it is the intimate, poetic vision that a mother, an artist, can have of her daughter’s life.” André Cornand, 1977

Un rêve plus long que la nuit / A Dream Longer than the Night (France, 1976)
Directed by Niki de Saint Phalle
Restored in 4K in 2023 by Niki Charitable Art Foundation with funding provided by Dior at L’Immagine Ritrovato laboratory, from the 16mm camera and sound negatives

Section: Recovered and Restored
Screening: Thursday 29th June, 11 am, Sala Scorsese

Glesni Williams