color. curvy women. sparkles. creatures. twists and turns. wild abandon. inspiration. big. love and heart break. bright pink. niki de saint phalle.

Leave it only to a modern art lover to stumble upon a modern art exhibit in the city of classic art - Rome. Immediately attracted to the bright pink and yellow poster with its curvaceous dancing women, my friend and I entered the Fondazione Roma Museo completely naive. We were thus transformed and inspired by Niki de Saint Phalle's art. It ate us up and then spit us back onto Rome's busy street with a brighter, curvier, more spectacular view of the things and people around us.

I will not try to dissect what it was that created this transformation. Instead I can only urge you to see her work for yourself and to experience de Saint Phalle's big, colorful, fabulously gaudy statues, drawings, and paintings. She made me believe I could be an artist, that my life is beautiful and worth the same documentation that hers did.