Niki de Saint Phalle The Tree

Silkscreen, 1969

Edition of 75, No. 8

Catalog Raisonné:
Chenivesse 47

49.00 × 61.00 cm | 19.29 × 24.02 in. (Paper size)
39.50 × 48.00 cm | 15.55 × 18.9 in. (Image size)

Hand-signed in pencil
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity
Condition: Excellent

Minor foxing on the upper margin

Artwork Description

This silkscreen was created during an early period when **Niki de Saint Phalle** was beginning to fully develop her career as a visual artist.

The image depicts a richly adorned tree, with snakes emerging from its branches and trunk, seemingly protecting a woman lying beneath it. This iconic motif is a recurring and important theme in the artist's work.

This image, which combines nature, femininity, and mythical symbolism, foreshadows ideas that would appear in later works. In particular, this theme can be seen as a precursor to her monumental sculptural work exhibited at the **Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers** in 1992.

This work is an interesting print that showcases Niki de Saint Phalle's imaginative symbolic world and the nascent stages of a creative process that would evolve into her large-scale sculptural works.