{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Gift of Irma S. Seitz for the William C. Seitz, Graduate School Class of 1955, Memorial Collection","caption":"Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002; born Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; died San Diego, CA), Tu est moi (You is me), 1960. Objects, wood, plaster, and paint; 79.5 × 60 × 3 cm, 87.6 × 67.9 × 9.5 cm (frame). Gift of Irma S. Seitz for the William C. Seitz, Graduate School Class of 1955, Memorial Collection (y1982-77)","cultureterms":[{"id":2031609,"culture":"French"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2055802,"term":"still lifes","aatid":300015638,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2049831,"term":"daggers (weapons)","aatid":300037058,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2050725,"term":"handguns","aatid":300037158,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2166886,"term":"mixed media","aatid":300163347,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2135984,"term":"forks","aatid":300043099,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2052977,"term":"paintings","aatid":300033618,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2138698,"term":"razors","aatid":300236438,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2139953,"term":"saws","aatid":300024671,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2139994,"term":"scissors","aatid":300023459,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2043754,"term":"rope","aatid":300014248,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2141096,"term":"painting equipment","aatid":300167850,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2123215,"term":"trademarks","aatid":300028776,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2031609,"term":"French","aatid":300111188,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2167445,"term":"plaster","aatid":300014922,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2167740,"term":"paint","aatid":300015029,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2045920,"term":"wood","aatid":300011914,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"frame","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"87.62"},{"element":"frame","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"67.94"},{"element":"frame","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"9.52"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"79.50"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"60.00"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"3.00"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1982-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":3418,"displayname":"Niki de Saint Phalle","displaydate":"1930–2002; born Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; died San Diego, CA","datebegin":1930,"dateend":2002,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Niki de Saint Phalle, 1930–2002; born Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; died San Diego, CA","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1960,"signed":null,"restrictions":"Restricted","classification":"Paintings","packages":[{"packageid":182999,"name":"image_descriptions_eps_painitings"},{"packageid":152533,"name":"web_frenchpaintings"},{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":214020,"name":"Gallery_17-CrossCollections"},{"packageid":181934,"name":"CRS_2020_ART477/FRE477_03_30"},{"packageid":193088,"name":"2020_M+A_POC"},{"packageid":196698,"name":"MoCo-Feminism"},{"packageid":228558,"name":"2023_ART490/GSS490/VIS490_09_18"}],"catalograisonne":"Niki de Saint Phalle; Catherine Loewer; et al, Niki de Saint Phalle: catalogue raisonné,1949-2000, (Lausanne; Wabern: Editions Acatos: Benteli Verlag, 2001).","classifications":[{"id":2166886,"classification":"mixed media"},{"id":2052977,"classification":"paintings"}],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1982-77"],"displaytitle":"Tu est moi (You is me)","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"Niki de Saint Phalle, 1930–2002; born Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; died San Diego, CA","captionhtml":"Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002; born Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; died San Diego, CA), <i>Tu est moi (You is me)</i>, 1960. Objects, wood, plaster, and paint; 79.5 × 60 × 3 cm, 87.6 × 67.9 × 9.5 cm (frame). Gift of Irma S. Seitz for the William C. Seitz, Graduate School Class of 1955, Memorial Collection (y1982-77)","displaydate":"1960","medium":"Objects, wood, plaster, and paint","media":[{"id":3420,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1982-77","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"William Chapin Seitz, <EM>The art of assemblage</EM>, (New York: Museum of Modern Art; distributed by Doubleday, Garden City, NY, 1961).","citation":"William Chapin Seitz, <EM>The art of assemblage</EM>, (New York: Museum of Modern Art; distributed by Doubleday, Garden City, NY, 1961)., cat. no. 188; p. 122 (illus.)","date":1961,"id":4957,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/637523560"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1982\", <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 42, no. 1 (1983): p. 50-70.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1982\", <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 42, no. 1 (1983): p. 50-70., p. 53","date":1983,"id":3149,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774638"},{"boilertext":"<P><EM>Niki de Saint Phalle: peintures, tirs, assemblages, reliefs, 1949-2000 = Paintings, tirs, assemblages, reliefs, 1949-2000 = malerei, tirs, assemblages, reliefs, 1949-2000</EM>, (Lausanne: Acatos; Wabern: Benteli, 2001).</P>","citation":"<P><EM>Niki de Saint Phalle: peintures, tirs, assemblages, reliefs, 1949-2000 = Paintings, tirs, assemblages, reliefs, 1949-2000 = malerei, tirs, assemblages, reliefs, 1949-2000</EM>, (Lausanne: Acatos; Wabern: Benteli, 2001).</P>","date":2001,"id":439,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/48991773"},{"boilertext":"Stephano Cecchetto, <EM>Niki de Saint Phalle</EM>, (Milano: Skira, 2009): pp. 30- 41, p. 32 (illus.)","citation":"Stephano Cecchetto, <EM>Niki de Saint Phalle</EM>, (Milano: Skira, 2009): pp. 30- 41, p. 32 (illus.), pp. 30 - 41, p. 32 (illus.)","date":2009,"id":5914,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/799998511"},{"boilertext":"Niki de Saint Phalle; Catherine Loewer; et al, <EM>Niki de Saint Phalle: catalogue raisonné, 1949- 2000, volume I</EM> (Lausanne: Editions Acatos, 2001): p. 54 (illus.)","citation":"Niki de Saint Phalle; Catherine Loewer; et al, <EM>Niki de Saint Phalle: catalogue raisonné, 1949- 2000, volume I</EM> (Lausanne: Editions Acatos, 2001): p. 54 (illus.), p. 54 (illust.)","date":2001,"id":5915,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/884512835"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"European Painting and Sculpture ","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199321,"term":"European Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199324,"term":"Art Since 1945","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1945-present","dateend":1960,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Tu est moi (You is me)","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris \r\n","objectnumber":"y1982-77","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Multivocal Label","textentryhtml":"<p><i>Tu est moi </i>exemplifies the violent activation of the spectator that would make the French-American  artist Niki de Saint Phalle famous during the 1960s.  At first glance, the title, <i>Tu est moi </i>(You is me), reads as a French-language error and logical impossibility.  But, when pronounced, it sounds like “You and me,” “You are me,” and “Kill me” in French. Saint Phalle draws on the puns of the artist Marcel Duchamp, declaring physical togetherness, even psychic identification, as the title of the work commands the viewer/reader/speaker to commit murder, as if the assemblage were a person. Foregrounded in thick white plaster, as if on a tabletop, lie found objects with their handles down: weapons ready for the taking. In the pitch-black night sky, a circle of  red paint burns like the sun and bleeds like a wound.  The horizon line shows just enough of a Ford Falcon’s metal logo to figure as the bird in flight and a getaway car.\n</p><p> AnnMarie Perl, Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer, Department of Art &amp; Archaeology\n </p>","remarks":"CRSS_17_WLA - Day 1 Cataloguing"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Irma S. Seitz; 1982 gift to Princeton University Art Museum","remarks":"not vetted"}],"datebegin":1960,"sortnumber":"1982   77y","published_date":"2026-03-31 02:24:24.967171","objectid":32702,"dimensions":"79.5 × 60 × 3 cm (31 5/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 3/16 in.)\r\nframe: 87.6 × 67.9 × 9.5 cm (34 1/2 × 26 3/4 × 3 3/4 in.)","on_view":true}