Giardino dei Tarocchi

File:Niki de saint-phalle, giardino dei tarocchi, ingresso 02.JPG

Giardino dei Tarocchi

File:Niki de saint-phalle, giardino dei tarocchi, imperatrice, interno, mosaico di specchi 02.JPG

Mosaic

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi or The Garden of Tarot is a sculpture garden based on the esoteric tarot created by the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) in Pescia Fiorentina, località Garavicchio, province of Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy. The park was opened to the public in 1998.

Niki de Saint Phalle, inspired by Antoni Gaudí´s Parc Güell in Barcelona, and Parco dei Mostri in Bomarzo, as well as Palais Idéal by Ferdinand Cheval, and Watts Towers by Simon Rodia, decided to make something similar: a monumental sculpture park created by a woman. In 1979, she acquired some land in Garavicchio, Tuscany, about 100 km north-west of Rome along the coast. There she built the Giardino dei Tarocchi, containing twenty-two monumental figures representing the greater Mysteries of the tarot, constructed of reinforced concrete and covered with mirrors and ceramic mosaic. The figures can be walked through; the artist lived inside the sphinx-like Empress for several months during the construction of the garden.

Selected publications

• Niki de Saint Phalle, Giulio Pietrocharchi: The Tarot Garden: The Tarot Garden. Benteli Zurich 1997, ISBN 978-3716510926.
• Niki de Saint Phalle: The Tarot Garden: Giardino Del Tarrochi. Edizioni Charta, Milano 1997, ISBN 978-8881581672.
• Carla Schulz Hoffman: Niki de Saint Phalle. Bilder-Figuren-Phantastische Garten. Prestel, Bonn 2008, ISBN 978-3791339832.
• Philip Carr-Gomm: Sacred Places. Quercus Publishing, London 2008, ISBN 978-0857383440.
• Jill Johnston, Marella Caracciolo Chia, Giulio Pietromarchi: Niki de Saint Phalle and The Tarot Garden. Benteli, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3716515372.

External links

• Official website
• The Magical world of Niki de Saint-Phalles Tarot Garden - Blog Post