© Niki Charitable Art Foundation / BONO. Photo: © Kristina A. Kvåle / Ekebergparken
L'Oiseau Amoureux Fontaine
- Date 1993
- Unveiled 2021
- Material Hand painted glassfiber
- Details Fountain available Summertime
- Available Turned on between 11:00 - 17:30
- Time 5 min, every halv hour
- Dimensions 300 x 350 x 130 cm
Niki De Saint Phalle
(b. Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 1930-2002)
Catherine-Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle was a French American painter, sculptor, performance artist and video maker. She started out her career as a photo model and became interested in art at the age of eighteen when she discovered the work of Antonio Gaudí (1852–1926) while visiting Park Güell in Barcelona. From the 1950s onwards, she made colourful, organic, and architectural installations out of paper maché and fibreglass. Saint Phalle was one of the few female artists of her generation who worked on a monumental scale. Her work is part of the collections of among others Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sprengel Museum in Hannover and MAMAC in Nice. Henie Onstad Kunstsenter showecased a large retrospective of Sant Phalle’s work in 2022, including L ́oiseau Amoureux Fontaine on loan from Ekebergparken.
By the water pond stands a majestic and colourful birdlike creature spreading its huge wings in the air. Its body is embraced by one of Niki de Saint Phalle’s iconic Nanas, which represents fertility, freedom, fertility, the matriarchy, and sexual liberation and love. In the summer season the sculpture will spray jets of water into the air. Niki de Saint Phalle was one of few female sculptors in her generation to make monumental sculptures. She was very productive and also created inflatable toys, jewellery, movies and perfumes. Today many of her colourful creations are placed in public spheres all over Europe, the U.S. and Japan.
The fountain is turned on for 5 minutes every half and full hour from 11 AM to 5:30 PM, every day in the spring, summer and autumn season.
Saint Phalle always went her own way and resisted conventional artistic norms. She had no formal art education and worked in an unconventional way. She was often performative in her creative process, for example, creating paintings by shooting at the canvas. Saint Phalle was also politically engaged and spoke out about topical issues such as equal rights, the environment, and the destigmatisation of HIV/AIDS.
Her work is overflowing with idealistic imagination, and her idea of creating a social area where you can have a new life and just be free culminated in several utopian sculpture parks, such as Giardini dei Tarocchi in Tuscany, which opened in 1988. Here, Saint Phalle erected monumental sculptures in concrete, inspired by the tarot card deck.
Guided tours
Experience L'Oiseau Amoureux Fontaine and many of the other artworks in the collection with our art mediators. We offer guided tours for private groups all year round.