Who are these ladies?

Sculpture: Les Trois Grâces
On Guide: n5
Location: Swift Family Garden
 
Sculpture: Nana on a Dolphin
On Guide: n7
Location: Dry Streambed Garden
 
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 the French equivalent for the words "chick" or "babe" in American slang. Niki celebrated women as sources of life and vitality. She herself fit the popular culture's 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 — a person's 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 artist's 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 Grâce (n21) reflects Niki's travels to Egypt in the late Sixties and early Seventies and 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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