The Garden of the Tarot (Il Giardino dei Tarocchi)

17 June 2021

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The Garden of the Tarot (Il Giardino dei Tarocchi)

Between 1979 and 1996, the Franco-American artist Niki De Saint Phalle created, in the heart of the Maremma, the work that can be considered the synthesis of his entire artistic career: the Tarot Garden. This is made up of gigantic sculptures, about 12/15 meters high, depicting the twenty-two major arcana of the tarot cards. Source of inspiration for the creation of this esoteric garden was certainly the wonderful Parque Guell of the architect Gaudì in Barcelona, in fact the similarities between the work of Niki De Saint Phalle and that of the Spanish artist are evident not only for its use. of the materials but also for the strong symbolic charge contained in the whole intervention. The sculptures were made internally with shaped and welded iron rod to form a dense and intertwined network with a shape that already resembled the sculpture. This iron weave was filled and covered with concrete forming the rough part and was later covered with mirror mosaics, precious glass and ceramic tiles, worked and fired on the spot. The whole garden is enclosed by a tuff wall in which the singular project of the ticket office, the work of the architect Mario Botta, is inserted. The Tarot Garden was born thanks to the solidarity of the Caracciolo family who gave the artist the opportunity to create this fantastic garden in a plot of land owned by them. Today the garden has become a private foundation and its proceeds are used for its maintenance.