Located: Linnean Pools (n5) - Download map
Date completed: 1999
Origin: France
Medium: Polyester, ceramic tile, and mirrored mosaic
Height: 8 ft.
Weight: 595 lbs. each

Additional Information

Many pieces in our exhibit are accompanied by a free audio tour and podcast. Links to the audio files are provided below, as well as a transcript of the recording.

Who are these ladies? (mp3)
Phone: (314) 558-4357 - 16#

Niki's powerful, playful females decorated with hearts and flowers, called Nanas, are among her best known works. These voluptuous ladies have appeared in museums and outdoor sculpture exhibitions around the world.

Nana is French for the word chick or babe in American slang. Niki celebrated women as sources of life and vitality. She herself fit the popular cultures notion of beauty. As a teenager, she appeared as a fashion model on the covers of Life, Time and Vogue magazines. But Niki looked beyond the surface to what she felt was beauty's true source and a persons inner being.

Outside the Linnean House, Les Trois Grâces dance joyfully in the reflecting pools. Les Trois Grâces are based on a theme from Greek mythology. These ladies were also inspired by Matisse's La Danse . In our English Woodland Garden, you'll find a different artists interpretation of the same classical Three Graces theme, done in bronze.

In the pond on the Knolls, Nana on a Dolphin playfully expresses the communion of nature and femininity.

Inside the Climatron®, Horus et sa Grace reflects Niki's travels to Egypt in the late Sixties and early Seventies and by her interest in mythology. With its color and curves, this piece juxtaposes the painted body of a Nana with the mirror mosaics of the Egyptian god's golden halo.

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