Inspired by Antoni Gaudí’s Park Güell in Barcelona, Parco dei Mostri in Bomarzo, as well as Palais Idéal by Ferdinand Cheval, the French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle, decided to create her own mystical garden, Giardino dei Tarocchi, or the Tarot Garden, in the beautiful Tuscan city of Garavicchio. It is full of extraordinary sculptures resembling monsters and inspired by Tarot cards. The Tarot Garden came to be a refuge for Saint Phalle to heal from her childhood trauma.

About the Artist

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and also a model. She is considered one of the most famous female sculptors and the only female member of the Nouveau Réalisme movement, which included artists such as Arman, Christo, Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Jacques de la Villeglé, César, and others. For a long time she hid a heavy trauma from her childhood, she suffered years of sexual abuse from her father which began when she was only eleven years old. In 1994 she revealed her story of childhood abuse in an illustrated memoir Mon Secret (“My Secret”). Her adulthood was marked by mental distress and manic episodes. At the age of 23, Saint Phalle was sent to a mental clinic in Nice, where she received electroshock and insulins hock therapy.

Η συνέχεια εδώ.