Silkscreen, 1993
Edition: 500
Catalogue raisonné:
Prestel 43
100.00 × 70.00 cm | 39.37 × 27.56 in. (paper size)
100.00 × 70.00 cm | 39.37 × 27.56 in. (image size)
Signed in pencil
Includes certificate of authenticity
Condition: Excellent
Small tear in upper margin
Artwork Description
This work depicts an interracial couple united by love, overcoming all obstacles.
Here, **Niki de Saint Phalle** expresses "love" as an answer to violence, rejection, fear of others, and racism.
By depicting two people with different bodies, the artist simultaneously emphasizes their equality. They freely choose each other, rather than conforming to societal norms.
Niki de Saint Phalle was aware of the issue of racial discrimination from a young age. Her experiences witnessing the inequality faced by African American housekeepers working in her home led to her interest in socially marginalized people. In later years, she stated that "women in a male civilization are like blacks in a white civilization," linking feminism with anti-racism.
In the 1960s, she created the "Black Rosy" sculptures, marking her first stance on this theme. When she returned to America in the 1990s, her work became more actively focused on depicting interracial couples. This shift coincided with the birth of her mixed-race great-grandchild.
She later created the "Black Heroes" series, depicting numerous interracial couples and presenting a worldview that affirms diversity as a value.
In "Fiancés of Knokke," the artist responds to exclusion with tenderness, to discrimination with color, and to division with connection. It is also a message that true freedom includes "the right to freely choose whom to love."
