Niki de Saint Phalle & Yayoi Kusama, Inner Child

Opera Gallery London

03 April - 05 May 2025

Opera Gallery is pleased to present 'Inner Child,' a two-artist exhibition featuring paintings and sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle and Yayoi Kusama. The exhibition showcases 41 artworks—7 paintings and 34 sculptures. This eclectic collection ranges from Saint Phalle's playful yet subversive depictions of animals and the female form to Kusama's recurring dot motif in both abstract and figurative works, with both artists' work characterised by vibrant colours and imaginative figures that convey a playful and jubilant tone.

Central to the exhibition is Niki de Saint Phalle's Last Night I Had a Dream, a monumental 1968 wall installation comprising 18 sculptures that evoke childlike imagination and surreal elements of subconscious exploration. Meanwhile, several paintings from Yayoi Kusama's long-running Infinity Nets series, inspired partly by hallucinatory visions she experienced as a child, highlight the artists' shared exploration of how childhood experiences have shaped their significant aesthetic developments.

For both artists, engagement with the proverbial inner child can be interpreted as an act of liberation, reclamation, and healing. Underpinning the sense of play and wonder seen in this diverse presentation is an understanding of childhood as a core tenet of both artists' ongoing interrogations into self-actualisation.