It was particularly for her colorful sculptures that the French Niki de Saint Phalle, a main representatives of Nouveau Réalisme, became one of the most famous and most popular artists of the 20th century.
Niki de Saint Phalle, for whom art was a sort of psycho-therapeutic means, attracted first attention with her "Schießbildern" [Shooting Pictures] in the early 1960s: Small bags filled with paint were put in gypsum reliefs and were mauled with shots from a gun, so that their content would expressively splash onto the surface. Her buxom "Nanas" became even more popular, biomorph abstraction of opulently rounded female figures made of different materials and painted in jolly colors, which can also be found in Niki de Saint Phalle's graphic art. With this work complex Niki de Saint Phalle approached Pop Art.
Works by the artist, who has been honored with numerous exhibitions (e. g. in Amsterdam in 1967 , in Rotterdam in 1976, in Paris in 1993), are in possession of many renowned international museums and can be found in numerous public spaces.