
Mini Nana boule
1970
"Mini Nana boule" is a small-scale sculptural work by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle, created in painted plaster resin. The piece exemplifies her iconic Nana series, which celebrates voluptuous, exuberant female figures rendered in vibrant colors and playful forms. Saint Phalle's characteristic use of bold patterns and joyful ornamentation in this miniature version maintains the spirited, feminist humanism that defines her artistic practice.
- Medium
- painted plaster resin
- Location
- Sotheby's, New York, NY
- Spotted At
- Auction House · Sotheby'sView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Contemporary Discoveries Including the Marcel Lehmann Lefranc Collection
February 12, 2025
Estimate: $8,000 to $12,000
Lot 98
More by Niki de Saint Phalle
Artists in conversation

Yayoi Kusama
Japanese · b. 1929

Kusama similarly creates boldly colored sculptural works featuring repetitive patterns and playful organic forms that celebrate joyful exuberance. Her inflatable and resin sculptures share the same vibrant ornamentation and whimsical feminist energy found in this Nana figure.

Fernando Botero
Colombian · b. 1932

Botero is renowned for his voluminous, rounded figurative sculptures that celebrate exaggerated bodily forms with warmth and humor, directly paralleling Saint Phalle's voluptuous Nana series. Both artists elevate the full female figure as a subject of joyful sculptural celebration.

Marisol Escobar
Venezuelan American · b. 1930

Marisol created boldly painted sculptural figures blending Pop Art sensibility with feminist themes and vivid surface decoration, echoing the colorful ornamentation and playful humanism of this painted resin Nana. Her works similarly use bright colors and pattern to transform the female figure into a celebratory sculptural object.
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