Garden of the Tarots

The garden of the Tarots ( Giardino dei Tarocchi ) is an Environment of art made up of monumental sculptures, located at Garavicchio, a hamlet of Capalbio in Toscane. It was creates by the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle.

Based on the 22 mysteries of the play of Tarot, it was carried out between 1979 and 1993. Built with the initial participation of her husband, the sculptor Jean Tinguely (who made the structures), and with the assistance of many workmen, it was opened to the public in 1998.

The realization

The garden, with strong esoteric component, includes/understands the 22 mysteries major of the Tarot:

the Magician (with its hand covered with mirrors and of which the interior of its head was painted by the English artist Alan Davie).
the Large Priestess (homage to the Gardens of Bomarzo). With, in the center of a " fontaine" , the Wheel of Fortune and its water jets
the Force (female figure dominating the brute force of a dragon).
the Sun (a bird posed on an arc of circle).
Death, overlapping a horse.
the Devil , Le Monde , Insane the
Hung the (located inside the tree of life).
Justice (female figure enclosed in a machine).
the Lovers (Adam and Eve in picnic).
the Hermit , the Tower
the Emperor (represented inside a castle).
the Lust (a fountain with women playing in water).
the Empress (of which the interior is entirely arranged in apartment - it is here that lived and worked Niki de Saint Phalle during the realization of the Garden).
the Carriage , the Star , the Judgment .
the Moon and Temperance .

These charts is translated into very coloured and imposing sculptures, of which some reach 15 meters (and are livable), covered with ceramics polychrome, of mosaics of mirror, of invaluable glasses, built with the assistance of local craftsmen.

The sculptures were built out of concrete recovering a metal reinforcement welded with the hand. This returns, enter others, these house-sculptures, antiseismic. The author as her husband lived there one long period and tried out them. A wall girds the park to separate the visitors from the reality of the surrounding landscape. The circular porch of entry is due to the architect tessinois Mario Botta.

The construction of the Garden was entirely financed by the sale of the other artistic achievements of Niki de Saint-Phalle.

Influences

With the realization of his fantastic garden, during more than 20 years, the sculptor and painter Niki De Saint Phalle concretized one of his dreams of youth.

Of course, one cannot miss raising the similarities and references of the Garden of the Tarots with the work of the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí which she discovered in 1955 (and in particular of the Parc Güell of Barcelona), or with those of the Parco dei Mostri (Park of the monsters) located at Bomarzo.

And, overall, it is with the Environnements of popular art as that of the Facteur Horse that one can see a relationship there. Niki de Saint-Phalle wrote with Jean Tinguely, evoking the beginning of their meeting (after 1962):

“ I spoke to you about Gaudi and the Factor Horse which I had just discovered and of which I had made my heroes: they represented the beauty of the man, only in his madness, without any intermediary, museum, galleries. I caused you by you saying that the Factor Horse was a much larger sculptor than you. “I never heard of this idiot, say you. Let us see it immediately. ” You insisted. It is what we did and the discovery of this marginal creator brought an immense satisfaction to you. You were allured by the poetry and the fanaticism of this small post-office employee who had carried out his immense and insane dream. ”.

Both, they visit then the Watts Towers with Los Angeles. These discoveries will bring the realization of the Cyclops of Tinguely, and the implementation of the Garden of the Tarots. Niki de Saint-Phalle speaks about these influences:

“ These works deeply inspired to me, whereas they were not considered seriously by the other artists who saw them as of “Folk Art”. I was identified with them, I felt me also like a outsider among the other artists. I never followed school of art and I am autodidact. I regard these people as my professors and my Masters and I feel much nearer to them than of my contemporaries ”.

The opening to the public

According to the will of Niki de Saint-Phalle, the garden is currently managed by a private foundation, the Fondation the Garden of the Tarots . The latter manages the receipts in order to mitigate the constant care of maintenance which the park requires. In accordance with the wishes of the author, the access to the park is free certain days in the year, and little publicity is done in order to avoid a massive surge visitors, thus guaranteeing his mysterious singularity to him.

See too

Environments visionaries

Sources