Niki de Saint Phalle

Niki is born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle on October 29, 1930 in France. Her father is French, her mother American. She is the second of five children of a wealthy family who lose their business and fortune in the stock market collapse.

She spends most of her childhood and adolescence in New York City, though strong ties are maintained with the family in France through frequent visits. As a teenager, in an early display of her later artistic temperament, she paints the fig leaves of her convent school’s classical sculptures red. She transfers to a new school shortly thereafter.

As a young woman, Niki’s first career is as a fashion model, with photographs appearing in Vogue and Life. At 18, she elopes with childhood friend Harry Mathews.