It is with deep emotion that we pay tribute to Nathalie Waag, a woman whose life was intimately linked to the creative universe of sculptor Philippe Hiquily.
Nathalie Waag, Philippe Hiquily's second wife, died on 19 June 2024 at the age of 91.
She left her home town of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, at the age of 18, driven by a desire to work in the theatre in Paris. What followed was a bohemian life, during which she met many of the artists and intellectuals of the Left Bank. She met Philippe Hiquily on 14 July 1958, with whom she had two sons, Jérôme and Alexandre.
Turning from theatre to photography, she documented the artistic milieu of the 60s, including the artists Man Ray, Jean Tinguely and Alejandro Jodorowski. Nathalie also made an essential contribution to Philippe Hiquily's work, immortalising his experiments with the Painting Machine, which he invented in New York as a mockery of the ‘action painting’ craze, and the use of psilocybin in the creative process in 1961.
She later settled in Bonnieux, in the Luberon, a village she had discovered in 1957.
Inspired by Provence, she developed a passion for cooking, an adventure that took her all the way to California and the famous Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, where her two children worked for many years. She remained loyal to Bonnieux, sharing her culinary knowledge with numerous guests who came to discover what she called ‘A Week in Provence’. She lived in Bonnieux with her husband André, a mathematician with a passion for hang-gliding, until the end of her life, often travelling to California and Zagora, where she had a small house on the edge of the desert.
Nathalie Waag, you will live on in our memories and in the art that you inspired. We pay tribute to you with immense gratitude and deep respect. May you rest in peace.
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