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Niki de Saint Phalle

My aunt Niki de Saint Phalle—the renowned French-American sculptor who created
the Tarot Garden and filled museums with her voluptuous Nanas—was born into the
same Saint Phalle banking dynasty that shaped and scarred us both.We shared impossible expectations, unspoken horrors, and the aristocratic weight
of a family that demanded perfection. She escaped through art and became famous.
I escaped by running—4,000 miles across America in 1973, then to Caribbean waters,
finally to Vermont's mountains.But Niki never left me. After her death, she became my guardian angel,
watching over the nephew who understood what neither fame nor art could heal.
This is the story of how she saved me, even from beyond.

• Aunt Niki - My Guardian Angel

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