“Most people don’t see the edginess in my work. They think it’s all fantasy and whimsy.”
Niki de Saint Phalle, 1998

Niki de Saint Phalle, whose innovative work in utilitarian sculpture redefined an entire genre of contemporary art, was known as “the beauty who challenged the beast of public taste.” (U. Krempel, “The Political Universe in the Art of Niki de Saint Phalle,”2001, p. 29). In the present lot, Pouf serpent bleu, the coiling form and whimsical application of paint of the feared serpent adds up to far more than a marvelously rendered piece: as observers, we are witnesses to de Saint Phalle’s precise taming of a mythological villain. de Saint Phalle’s unconventional approach to sculpture cemented her place at the center of a male-dominated field, one that, in works such as the present lot, she continually challenged in the realms of gender archetypes and orthodoxy.

In the 1980s, de Saint Phalle applied her iconic chromatic brushwork, capricious patterns, and untraditional silhouettes to the forms of snakes (a symbol of particular interest to the artist), creating vibrantly painted chairs adorned with geometric patterns. As one of the most ancient mythological symbols, the serpent has been associated with fertility, wisdom, and rebirth. Pouf serpent bleu adopts these ancestral traits with astonishing vitality, the blue coils of the serpent alive with both the natural patterns of the Coral Snake in its reds and yellows, yet fantastical and mythological in its greens, whites, and elemental patterns. Yet, despite the intimidating chromatic structure of the piece, de Saint Phalle’s work maintains an air of approachability for the weary traveler, reimaginging the frightening gaze of the serpent as a good-natured grin. Through her artistic explorations de Saint Phalle carefully approached and rejected the “accepted female role images such as passivity, withdrawal, shyness, and the willingness to play second fiddle, she directed a sharp criticism at the prejudiced images of male society. In her work she left behind the old female roles and formulated new ones and opportunities, thus anticipating the dialectics of the birth of a possible new world from the destruction of the old.” (U. Krempel, “The Political Universe in the Art of Niki de Saint Phalle,”2001, p. 29)