Tarot Garden

The Tarot Garden is a beautiful artistic park in the Tuscan Maremma. It is located in the hamlet of Garavicchio, in the municipality of Capalbio.

It is a magnificent esoteric park, created in 23 years – from 1979 to 2002 – by the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle together with her second husband, the sculptor Jean Tinguely, almost completely self-financing. Inspired by Gaudi’s Parc Güell in Barcelona, this garden is home to 22 gigantic sculptures made entirely by hand and depicting the characters of the Tarot cards.

The history of the garden

In 1955, Nikki de Saint Phalle, during a trip to Spain, was so fascinated by Antoni Gaudì’s Parc Güell that it inspired her with the idea of a garden of sculptures, built with different materials and decorated with the most disparate techniques. The trip to Spain was followed by numerous other trips by the French artist and her second husband, Jean Tinguely, to France, California, Sweden and Switzerland and right here, during a long period of convalescence following a lung abscess, Niki works on the Tarot Garden project, thanks also to her dear friend Marella Caracciolo Agnelli and her brothers who made available to her a land they owned in Garavicchio, in Tuscany. Since 1979 Niki has dedicated herself completely to the creation of this splendid park, helped by her sculptor husband and by important contemporary artists, Rico Weber, Paul Widemer, Dok van Winsen, Sepp Imhof, Isabelle Le Jeune, Pierre Marie Le Jeune and Marino Karella, as well as a large team of specialized workers. A great contribution to the park was that of the Ticino architect Mario Botta and the architect Roberto Aureli, from Grosseto. The works for the construction proceed for 23 years, until May 21, 2002, when unfortunately Niki disappears due to a lung disease, as per his will, the works will be interrupted and the park considered completed.

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi

By the will of Niki de Saint Phalle herself, the Tarot Garden does not have a compulsory itinerary, but each visitor can visit it freely, following the order he prefers, without any limitation.
The entrance pavilion was designed by the architect Mario Botta and consists of a large tuff wall with a large portal in the centre, to symbolize the passage from reality to the fantastic world represented by the garden. Once through the entrance you reach the central square, where there is a large pool of water with the first two statues of the garden, the High Priestess and the Magician, in the center of the pool is the Wheel of Fortune, a curious self-propelled mechanical sculpture, created by Niki’s husband, Jean Tinguely. From here the route continues in the most disparate ways.

The sculptures of the Tarot Garden :

• • the High Priestess, in the central square, with her large mouth wide open, a clear reference to the sculptures in the Monster Park of Bomarzo
  • the Magician, according to the artist the card of creation and play
  • the Wheel of Fortune, in the center of the tank fed with water, a self-propelled mechanical structure
  • the Empress, a buxom woman clad in colored ceramics. Inside Niki built a house where she lived during the construction of the garden, the interior is completely covered with fragments of Venetian mirrors, it is composed of a bed, a living room and a kitchen
  • the Sun, symbolized by a large bird of the color of fire
  • the Tree of Life, symbolized by a tree that has snake heads instead of branches, very particular for the writings and engravings, especially in the “My Love” section where the autobiographical story of the artist the Hanged Man is reported , a statue hanging by the feet, with an important symbolic meaning
  • Justice, depicted with a scale resting on her large breasts, inside is the representation of Injustice, created inside the statue of Justice
  • the Lovers, two sculptures depicted while having a picnic sitting on a low wall
  • the Prophet, hollow sculpture of a ghost, completely covered with fragments of mirrors
  • the Emperor, a sort of fortified citadel with towers, a walkway and a courtyard with 22 columns and a fountain
  • the Tower, imposing and covered in mirrors, partially cut by the lightning (made of scrap metal) built by Jean Tinguely
  • the Temperance, an igloo covered with mirrors and ceramics, inside there is an altar with a bas-relief of a black Madonna. The work is dedicated to the memory of Ricardo Menon and Jean Tinguely
  • Death, a gilded figure riding a horse, the sculpture is depicted as he mows down men and animals, and is placed on a base of mirrors
    
  • the Devil, hidden in the vegetation, with bat wings
    • the Fool, symbol of chaos, spirit and enthusiasm
    • the World, a machine that rotates the gears at regular intervals, creating magical plays of light, a sphere of mirrors is held by a snake above the figure of a woman with her arms wide open
    • the Force, sculpture of a woman dominating a dragon
    • the Pope, sculpture depicting a face, symbolic of the presence of the third eye
    • the Moon, silver sculpture, supported by a red crab and two animals
    • the Chariot, depicted by a woman driving a chariot pulled by two horses
    • the Hermit, depicts loneliness, a snake is wrapped around the stick of the sculpture, a symbol of knowledge
    • the Star, a woman covered in stars with two amphorae filled with water in one hand
    • Judgment, this sculpture is placed inside the Empress and has the appearance of an angel with three human figures at his feet