Niki de Saint Phalle

Beautiful, flamboyant, daring and fiercely independent, Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) emerged in the 1960s as a powerful and original figure in the male-dominated art world centred on Paris. That city contains perhaps her best-known monument, the vibrant, colourful and hugely popular Fontaine Stravinsky, near the Pompidou Centre, created in 1983.