OMG, I am *dying* having just discovered the soon-to-be-released Dalí Tarot! Some of you may know I was an art history major, and as a lover of tarot’s symbolism, this is perfection!
Per publisher Taschen:
Legend has it that when preparing props for the James Bond film Live and Let Die, producer Albert Broccoli commissioned Surrealist maestro Salvador Dalí to create a custom deck of tarot cards. Inspired by his wife Gala, who nurtured his interest in mysticism, Dalí eagerly got to work, and continued the project of his own accord when the contractual deal fell through.
The work was published in a limited art edition in 1984 that has since long sold out, making Dalí the first renowned painter to create a completely new set of cards. Drawing on Western masterpieces from antiquity to modernity (including some of his own), Dalí seamlessly combined his knowledge of the arcane with his unmistakable wit. The result is a surreal kaleidoscope of European art history.
I mean really, how gorgeous is the Death card? I feel like the energy behind this card was meant to be painted by Dalí.
“Combining the occult with his own unmistakable sensibility, Dalí’s tarot is a pastiche of old-world art, surrealism, kitsch, Christian iconography and Greek and Roman sculpture.”
— openculture.com
What artist would you like to see design a tarot deck? I’m wishing for Hannah Höch‘s interpretation of Queen of Swords and a Kees van Dongen‘s Empress!
