Charming artistic park in the heart of the Maremma: the Tarot Garden
The Tarot Garden is a large artistic park located in Capalbio, in the Garavicchio area.
It was made in the ’80s and in the ’90s by Niki de Saint Phalle, a French artist who was inspired by the Park Guell in Barcelona and the Park of the Monsters of Bomarzo.
These wonders of art and architecture have established in Niki the desire and the need to create a place where man and nature coexist in harmony.Some friends gave her a large land in the heart of the Maremma, a short distance from the border with Lazio, and here began her work.
Niki de Saint Phalle has populated the garden of gigantic sculptures, between 12 and 15 meters high, representing the symbols and figures of the tarot. All 22 major arcana are depicted. Some sculptures have a hollow space inside which was used by her as a house during the construction of the park.
The sculptures of the Tarot Garden
All the works are made of concrete and covered with a mosaic of colored glass and ceramic tiles. Among the most famous are: the Emperor, the Empress, the Death, the Devil, the Fool, the Justice. Their arrangement inside the garden is definitely suggestive.
Once you enter the Tarot Garden, you are free to visit the park independently by walking along its paths. Even the latter are often decorated with phrases, colored tiles, aphorisms, drawings and thoughts of the artist.
Rich in esoteric and symbolic meaning, the impressive sculptures of the park transport the visitor into a magical and evocative world. The artist’s intention was precisely to create a corner of paradise in which man and nature meet and live together in harmony. The realization of the park, as we see it today, also collaborated with several contemporary artists including Jean Tinguely, husband of Niki.