The Firebird

A shimmering 17-foot-5-inch-tall whimsical sculpture greets visitors to the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. Completed in 1991, The Firebird or Le Grand Oiseau de Feu sur l'Arche, was designed by French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle.

This monumental outdoor sculpture was purchased by Andreas Bechtler in 2006 and installed on the plaza in front of the museum in October 2009.

It is now a permanent part of the Bechtler collection. De Saint Phalle’s work is often categorized within the context of Nouveau réalisme, a movement founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany and the painter Yves Klein during the first collective exposition in the Apollinaire gallery in Milan. Members of this group, including de Saint Phalle, tended to see the world as an image from which they could take parts and incorporate them into their works.

With its reflective surface, the sculpture interacts with its surroundings: traffic, trees, buildings, and pedestrians bringing art and life closer together and is highly representative of her work.