From entertainment to the esoteric, the mystique of tarot continues to influence culture

When it comes to the subject of tarot cards, there are as many narratives for its origins as there are for the innumerable readings that spring from its visual references and codes. Could it be traced back to Egyptian hieroglyphics? Is it connected to the Hebrew alphabet and the Jewish tradition of kabbalah? Or were they a form of divination invented by the Romani people?

What we do know for now is that the Visconti-Sforza is the oldest set of surviving tarot cards, which were created for the Duke of Milan’s family around the year 1440. Illustrated with figures paraded in pageants, such cards were used to play the game tarocchi (similar to modern-day bridge) by nobles and others. Later, the French renamed it as tarot, but it wasn’t until the 18th century, when the occult became fashionable and oft referenced in literature, that tarot cards took on mystical overtones. In the early 1900s in America, the cards garnered a cult following.

For many in the West, tarot exists in the shadowy space of our cultural consciousness, a metaphysical tradition assigned to the dusty glass cabinets of the arcane. Its history, long and obscure, has been passed down through secret writings, oral tradition, and the scholarly tomes of philosophers and sages. Hundreds of years and hundreds of creative hands – with mystics and artists often working in collaboration – have transformed what was essentially a parlour game into a source of divination and a system of self-exploration, as each new generation has sought to evolve the form and reinterpret the medium. 

And particularly creative types. The powerful influence of tarot as a muse has influenced artists such as Salvador Dalí and Niki de Saint Phalle, as well as numerous contemporary artists from around the world, who have embraced the medium for its capacity to push cultural identity forward. 

Though he seems a natural fit, Dalí’s connection is most surprising; the surrealist was approached by James Bond producer Albert R Broccoli to create a tarot deck for a scene in the 1973 film Live and Let Die, but it never appeared in the film. (The props were needed for the character of Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour, a psychic working for a menacing drug lord.) In the 78-card deck that Dalí produced, the artist uses himself and his wife, Gala, as mystical figures. The scenes feature the Spanish surrealist’s signature motifs – butterflies, ants, roses and dissected faces. 

Today, the influence of tarot on art and fashion is widespread, as the material world channels the occult in everything from Alexa Chung’s tarot-themed T-shirts for her spring/summer 2019 collection to Etro’s allegorical spring/summer 2018 menswear collection, and to Maria Grazia Chiuri’s striking tarot-influenced accessories and capsule collection for Dior in 2017. Chiuri acknowledged that her interest in the occult aesthetic was sparked by the works of Saint Phalle, who was inspired by witches, dragons, magicians and the angel of temperance. 

Trace the hidden history and artistic expression of tarot, from the medieval to the modern day, in the first volume of Taschen’s Library of Esoterica, a series documenting the creative ways we strive to connect to the divine. Artfully arranged, this compendium gathers more than 500 cards and works of original art from around the world in the ultimate exploration of a centuries-old visual form. Two-thirds of the images are being published for the first time. It makes for informative and inspiring reading – and viewing. 

Divine Decks: A Visual History of Tarot by Jessica Hundley. Published by Taschen.

Images: Taschen © 2020

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