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Dear Bloggers,

today I would like to introduce The Tarot Garden, an artistic park located in Capalbio (Grosseto) in Tuscany, created by the Franco-US artist Niki de Saint Phalle and populated with statues inspired by the figures of the greatest enigma of the tarot.
Following the inspiration she had during the visit to Antoni Gaudí “Parque Guell” in Barcelona, then reinforced by the visit to the garden of Bomarzo, Niki de Saint Phalle began the construction of the Tarot Garden in 1979.

Identifying in the Garden the magical and spiritual dream of her life, Niki de Saint Phalle devoted herself to the construction of twenty-two impressive steel figures covered with glass, mirrors and colored ceramics for more than 17 years, alongside several skilled workers and a team of famous names of contemporary art.

At the entrance there is the pavilion featuring a thick wall with a single large circular opening in the center, that clearly divides the Garden from everyday reality.

Completed only in the summer of 1996, the Tarot Garden was opened to the public two years later.
The sculptures are inspired by the greatest misteries of Tarot, full of symbolic and esoteric meanings. All the sculptures are polymateric and the recurring theme are the so-called "Nanas", huge, sinuous feminine figures, accessible and habitable.

In the intense and lively colors, the bursting, explosive sculptures of the Tarot Garden take the attention and the emotions of the spectator. There is a strong appeal to Bomarzo garden and the Guell Park, with the presence of the maternal and powerful Feminine, loaded with a  symbolic complexity.

Once you enter, you will arrive to the large central square occupied by a bathtub and overlaid by the united figures of the “Papacy and the Magician”. The circular pool in which the water is collected by a waterfall from the stairs coming out from the enormous open mouth of the Papacy (like the Orc in Bomarzo and connected with the water games of Villa d'Este) is marked in the center by the “Wheel Of Fortune”, a mechanical sculpture.

The streets that depart from the square go through different itineraries that follow the sinuosity of the land, ascending or descending along the ridge. The streets also play a key role in the work: the artist has indelibly recorded notes on them her thoughts, memories, numbers, quotes, drawings, messages of hope and faith.

On the right shoulder, the small stairway rising from the square passes under the figure of the “Sun”, embedded in the great white, red and yellow fire bird, perched on a large blue arch, in which it is evident the recall of the iconography of the Indians of America.

Immediately after the Sun, here there is the “Pope”.

Another statue is that of the “Tree of Life”, crowned with the heads of snakes and covered, like a mural, with inscriptions and drawings. It carries the figure of the “Hanged Man”, which, from its inverted point of view, suggests another way of looking at the reality of things.

On the right side there is the figure of “Justice” with its contrast between black and white, and the balance on the big breasts. A gate enclosed by a huge lock, occupied by a mecaniqués depicting the “Injustice”, bars the inner space.

Another figure is that of the “Emperor's Castle”. In the center of the courtyard, enclosed by a swaying, polymateric loggia, there is a circular bathtub in which four happy, colorful “nanas” bathe and splash water jets.

Previously closed to the public there is also the most representative and important sculpture of the complex, the "Empress-Sphinx" in which Niki de Saint Phalle lived during her works. Inside there is a space without any corner, used as a living room with the bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom and the central space furnished as a study room, all made up of the thousands of fragments of Venetian mirrors that lined the walls.

Molded on the outside, there is a staircase which leads to a terrace and concavity.

Another statue is that of the“Moon”, a skinny sculpture supported by the red crab set in the middle of a lower floor.

There is also the small “dome-chapel” of mirrors and cement overlaid by the figure of “Temperance”: the igloo is lined in mirrors and ceramic formwork in the form of flowers, and is located around a small altar with a Black Madonna, who watches on the photographs of missing friends.

Near the chapel, there are two seats shaped like animals and used as moments of rest, contemplation and meditation.

If you have time go and visit to this garden. There are may other statues I didn't mention today. It is a very original work, two steps from Rome!

Guenda

Address: Loc. Garavicchio, 58011 Capalbio Grosseto

Tel. 0564 895122

Website: http://ilgiardinodeitarocchi.it/en/

Opening dates: from April 1 to October 15, from 14:30 to 19:30

Ticket Prices: Adult €12.00 - Student (with ID) and Over 65 €7.00 - Under 7 and disabled Free