How did tarot influence Niki?

Sculpture: Star Fountain
On Guide: n21
Location: Climatron
 
Two sculptures in this exhibition — Star Fountain and Arbre Serpents (n2) — are closely related to Niki's Tarot Garden.

In the 1970s, inspired by the artist Gaudí's park in Barcelona, Niki dreamed of creating a sculpture garden based on the cards of the Tarot deck used by fortune tellers. An Italian patron offered her land in southern Tuscany, where she completed her Tarot Garden in 1998, just four years before she died. The project took 20 years. It is among the permanent sculpture gardens she created. The others are Queen Califia's Magical Circle in Escondido, California, and Golem and Noah's Ark, both in Jerusalem.

Arbre Serpents, combining plant and animal life into one, is based symbolically on the Tree of Life that housed the card of the Hanged Man. It was designed to be a complex fountain. The snake appeared in her early images of femininity. In the 1980s, she adopted serpents as her signature motif for a perfume she produced to finance the Tarot Garden.

Star Fountain is not only a monumental woman but also symbolic of the Tarot card deck, with its iconic flowing water, stars, and planets. According to Niki, the star represented the wholeness of being, lost in modern civilization, as well as renewal.

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