The exhibition is the first complete anthological retrospective organized in an Italian museum and celebrates the Franco-American artist known for her large and colorful Nanas, but also reveals her committed side through a different interpretation of her work.

Structured in eight sections, the exhibition path tells the artistic life of Niki, from her beginnings to her latest works, in a diachronic but also strongly anthological rhythm that traces, through the colorful, polymorphic, round and maternal world of her Nanas (and more), a much less joyful personal life. Over the years, the artist has often had to destroy to process the pain and then rebuild, breaking the patterns through intense provocations, to leave a lasting imprint in the art world in the end.

Produced in collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, the exhibition displays 110 works, including about ten large-scale pieces, along with an elegant selection of Maison Dior dresses, which also recall her past as a model in beautiful photographic shots that portray her and simultaneously tell the public a very "pop" personal vision of art, understood as a path towards the affirmation of the feminine.

Niki de Saint Phalle, 'woman and artist' (as she loved to define herself), painter, sculptor, author of experimental films, performer, escapes a unique definition. Her monumental works, including parks and public sculptures, intertwine with a more personal and sometimes poignant reflection. On one hand, she is seen as an independent celebrity proud of her art; on the other hand, her physical fragility and the numerous social inequalities and discriminations she witnessed throughout her life bring out her humanity and sensitivity towards the most vulnerable.

Living in an era of great social and artistic changes - from the feminist movement of the '60s and '70s to the Nouveau réalisme of which she was a protagonist - Niki de Saint Phalle (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1930, La Jolla, 2002) was one of the artists who most challenged gender stereotypes through art, expressing her identity through femininity, sensuality, and love for life as creation.