NMWA’s new bold public art project exhibits sculptures by renowned modern and contemporary women artists in changing installations on New York Avenue, right at NMWA’s front door. The first phase of the New York Avenue Sculpture Project features four monumental sculptures by French-born artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002).

Saint Phalle’s exuberant Nana on a Dolphin, 1998, and L’Arbre serpents (Serpent Tree), #23 Basketball Player, and Les trois grâces (The Three Graces), all from 1999, are exhibited on the avenue’s median between 12th and 13th Streets, NW. Subsequent phases of the project place sculptures along New York Avenue from 13th to 9th Street at Mount Vernon Square. When completed around 2015, the New York Avenue Sculpture Project will be the only major outdoor sculpture corridor in Washington, D.C.

In her lifetime, Saint Phalle created scores of outdoor sculptures and public art projects around the world. She is perhaps best known for her kinetic Stravinsky Fountain (created with Tinguely in 1982) in front of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and her grand Tarot Garden, 1978–98, in rural Garavicchio, Italy. Saint Phalle relished the contrast between the bright colors and shimmering surfaces of the monumental sculptures in her garden and the rugged Italian hillside into which she built them. The inaugural installation for the New York Avenue Sculpture Project continues Saint Phalle’s custom of presenting awe-inspiring art in public spaces.

NMWA has been planning this groundbreaking project for several years. An innovative public-private partnership between NMWA, the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, and the District of Columbia Office of Planning has enabled it to be realized. Temporary sculpture installations that will change every one to three years will create an exciting destination point in the capital city. Art by women will extend beyond NMWA’s galleries and into the area surrounding the museum, a vibrant and growing arts and entertainment district.