Tarot in painting and art: a history quiz
A quiz on tarot in art: Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden, Salvador Dalí's deck, Pamela Colman Smith at Stieglitz's gallery and surrealist arcana.
- 5 questions
- ≈ 2 min
- +5 bronze keys for a flawless run
Why do artists paint tarot?
This quiz tests what you know about tarot in the visual arts. A 78-card deck is a ready-made program for an artist: twenty-two big images and a whole world of suits. That is why tarot attracted not only deck makers but also major twentieth-century painters and sculptors, from surrealists to the creators of huge sculpture parks.
Pamela Colman Smith, who drew the 1909 deck, was much more than an illustrator. She painted pictures while listening to music, designed for Ellen Terry's theatre company, and in 1907 showed her work at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery in New York, which until then had exhibited only photography.
The Tarot Garden and Dalí's deck
The largest monument to tarot was built by Niki de Saint Phalle. In Tuscany, near Capalbio, she spent about twenty years creating the Tarot Garden: giant sculptures based on the Major Arcana, covered in mirrors, glass and ceramics. She was inspired by Antoni Gaudí's Park Güell in Barcelona, and while the work went on she lived inside the sculpture of the Empress. The garden is open to visitors in the warmer months.
Salvador Dalí painted his own tarot deck; it was first commissioned for a James Bond film, but it never made it into the movie and came out separately in 1984. Dalí cast himself as the Magician. The surrealist Leonora Carrington also painted her own Major Arcana.
How the quiz works
Each run draws five questions from a pool of twelve: artists, their works and some unusual stories. Each answer comes with an explanation, and the run ends with a full review. A flawless run earns Tayna keys.
Tayna's own deck is conceived as painting too: each of its 78 cards is a separate picture on black lacquer in a frame of old gold. So it is worth looking at the cards not only for their meaning but for the image itself: often a detail of the picture hints at what the card is telling you today.
All questions and answers
Open after you play: the full question set with right answers and explanations.
1. Where did Niki de Saint Phalle build her Tarot Garden?
Right answer: In Tuscany
The Tarot Garden near Capalbio in Tuscany opened in 1998: giant sculptures of the Major Arcana.
2. Inside which arcanum's sculpture did Niki de Saint Phalle live while building?
Right answer: The Empress
She turned the giant sphinx-like Empress into her home for the years of construction.
3. Whose park inspired Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden?
Right answer: Gaudí's in Barcelona
She saw Antoni Gaudí's Park Güell, with its mosaics and fairy-tale shapes, as a young woman.
4. Roughly how long did it take to create the Tarot Garden?
Right answer: About twenty years
Work began in the late 1970s, and the garden opened to the public in 1998.
5. Which artist painted a tarot deck with himself as the Magician?
Right answer: Salvador Dalí
Dalí's deck came out in 1984. He cast himself as the Magician and his wife Gala as the Empress.
6. Dalí's tarot deck was first commissioned for a James Bond film.
Right answer: True
It was meant for Live and Let Die, but never made it into the film and came out on its own in 1984.
7. Whose New York gallery showed Pamela Colman Smith's work in 1907?
Right answer: Alfred Stieglitz's
Stieglitz's 291 gallery had shown only photography before her. Smith was its first painter.
8. How did Pamela Colman Smith create her music pictures?
Right answer: While listening to music
She painted the images she saw while listening to Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy and others.
9. Which surrealist painter made her own set of Major Arcana?
Right answer: Leonora Carrington
Leonora Carrington painted 22 Major Arcana full of her own symbols. They were published much later.
10. What covers the sculptures of the Tarot Garden in Tuscany?
Right answer: Mirrors and ceramics
A mosaic of mirrors, colored glass and ceramics makes the figures glitter in the sun.
11. Besides illustration, what other work did Pamela Colman Smith do?
Right answer: Stage design
Smith designed for Ellen Terry's theatre company and told Jamaican Anansi stories at gatherings.
12. The Tarot Garden is closed to the public; you can only see it in photos.
Right answer: Myth
The garden welcomes visitors in the warmer months, usually spring to autumn, so you can walk through it.