Tarot Garden: Niki De Saint Phalle

So far, there haven't been many women who have dared to dream on a truly megalomaniac scale-and see those dreams through to completion. - Niki de Saint Phalle. The story of the Tarot Garden, created by Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 2002), unfolds like a fairy tale. For the first time, this book documents the extraordinary adventure of its construction, from 1978 to 1998. It all began when, at the age of twenty-five, Niki de Saint Phalle visited Gaudí's Park Güell and decided to give form to her lifelong desire for grandeur. The result was the creation of twenty-one monumental and esoteric sculptures spread across two hectares in Tuscany's Maremma region-an artistic interpretation of the Tarot's major arcana, a system that had long captivated her imagination. The Tarot Garden stands within a visionary lineage of fantastical environments, alongside the Palais Idéal of Ferdinand Cheval, Gaudí's Park Güell, Alain Bourbonnais's Fabuloserie, and the Gardens of Bomarzo in Lazio. Enriched with rare archival material, this book reveals the behind-the-scenes story of Niki de Saint Phalle's magnum opus, shaped by Etruscan heritage, local craftsmanship, and rituals drawn from cultures around the world. Seeing the garden Gaudí built in Barcelona changed my life. From that moment on, my path would be a slow apprenticeship-until the day I, too, would be capable of creating a magnificent work like his, a place of joy. - Niki de Saint Phalle. Text in English, Italian and French. AUTHORS: Lucia Pesapane (text) is an art historian and a specialist in the work of Niki de Saint Phalle. She is the author of several books, including Niki de Saint Phalle. The 1980s and 1990s. Art in Freedom (Gallimard, 2022) and Niki de Saint Phalle: The Magical Bestiary (Hazan, 2025). Bloum Cárdenas (foreword) is Niki de Saint Phalle's granddaughter and the guardian of her legacy. SELLING POINTS: . Unpublished drawings, photographs, architectural plans, and personal correspondence from Niki de Saint Phalle, offering an unprecedented look into the creation of the Tarot Garden . A trilingual text (French, English, Italian) tracing the genesis, ambition, and construction of this monumental project through to its opening to the public . Major forthcoming exhibitions in Rome in 2027-at Villa Medici and MAXXI-dedicated to the Tarot Garden and coinciding with the book's release . A renewed global interest in Niki de Saint Phalle, whose work has been celebrated by recent blockbuster exhibitions in Paris, New York, and beyond . A key figure of 20th-century art, Niki de Saint Phalle is recognised internationally for her monumental sculptures, radical artistic vision, and pioneering role among women artists . A definitive volume on the artist's magnum opus, essential for museums, collectors, art historians, and admirers of visionary environments . High production values, with rare archival material and striking visuals that showcase the immersive scale of the Tarot Garden 20 colour, 30 b/w illustrations