There are names for each sculpture in this garden by Saint Phalle, but due to my limited time and connection, I wanted to get pictures posted since this is such a visual experience. I took around 150 photos and still did not photograph everything. It was truly overwhelming!
You will see parts of this, climbing up the hill. The closer you get the more comes into focus. From standing in this spot, this is only one half of the total view.
Most of the large pieces seem to interact or be connected artistically, but then there are these smaller pieces tucked in and about. This dragon is mostly green mirror mosaics.
The women portrayed, both the obvious and seriously abstract are always full figured.
This set of lovers (it seems) are tucked back into the nature areas behind the main sculptures and are surrounded by various trees, paths, and faux stone couches and benches for visitors.
I cannot do just to the sizes. These large pieces are multiple stories high. Some with limited access, some roped off. They are difficult to manuever with low sides, limited rails, and the ever present illusions created by patterns, colors, and especially the reflecting mirrors - making you question where the boundaries actually exist.
This was a favorite area for the kids, but I loved it also, but so many people, it was hard to relax for a moment. The center is women in a wading pool, spouting water. The surrounding area is multiple columns, no two the same in shape or tile.
Some of these tiles, surrounding the wading women, is everything from hand made or custom tiles to the extravagant Millefiori pieces, seen on the far left.
All the oversized sculptures had hidden sculptures or rooms inside. This particular one was a house, complete with a large dinning area as seen. All the walls inside were mirrored and you were never positive where the walls were as opposed to a reflection.
These were chairs off to the side. Many of the seating areas were hard to photograph as people were constantly enjoying them or taking children photos of their little ones climbing on.
Some sections were obvious in their symbolisms and such, but many were just seriously fun and playful with no evident purpose, but the occassional headache from sorting the visual lines.
By the end of the short visit, I had photographed every aspect I could, crawled through openings, ventured stairs questionable for any age, and analyzed different aspects and possible meanings. In the end, the most obvious for me was the amount of mosaics used, the man power to build it all, and the freedom to play.
