Home » Art financed by a perfume: thus the Tarot Garden of Niki de Saint Phalle was born

Art financed by a perfume: thus the Tarot Garden of Niki de Saint Phalle was born

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If Maremma is on your travel list this summer, add an entry and then circle it with the highlighter: the Tarot Garden of Niki de Saint Phalle is located right in the hills of Garavicchio, a town in the municipality of Capalbio, an explosion of colors, shapes and creativity that bursts into the sweetness of the Tuscan countryside and into the eyes of those who enter that labyrinth of 22 sculptures / installations arranged according to a precise philosophical and esoteric design, begun in 1979. It was 1998 when the French artist, but naturalized American, exponent of the Nouveau Réalisme movement, inaugurated his park of wonders, where the echo of Gaudì feels intense, like that of the Parco dei Mostri in Bomarzo, but is enriched and surpassed by a precise vision of human existence, of which the Tarot, in fact, are complex interpreters.

As you visit the park, you may find yourself wondering, pragmatically: how did he build all this? Of course, the land was donated to her by the Caracciolos, who own many hectares in that area of ​​Maremma, after a lucky meeting between Niki and Marella Caracciolo Agnelli in 1974 in St Moritz. But the expenses for the cement, the mosaic tiles, the mirrors, the maintenance, Niki covered them also thanks to a perfume.

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«The Tarot Garden was my spouse, my love, it was all for me. No sacrifice was too great for him, ”said the artist, who also involved her second husband, the sculptor Jean Tiguely, in the realization of his dream. In 1982, the idea: Niki decided to finance himself by signing a fragrance. The agreement with Jacqueline Cochran, an American company that at that time also produced iconic perfumes of the decade such as Nina Ricci, Carven and Pierre Cardin, was however to maintain complete control over the composition of the jus and the style of the bottle, which also had to be it is a small work of art.

The result was a perfume that was a “mix of fantastic flowers, a little sunshine, the wonder of snakes, the mystique of the moon and stars, and a hint of love,” as she herself described in the New York Times. . Inside were notes of artemisia, mint, carnation, patchouli, iris root, jasmine, ylang-ylang, cedar and rose. In the background leather, sandalwood, amber, musk and oak moss. Outside, the bottle was in blue crystal, for the artist the color of dreams and good luck, surmounted by two intertwined snakes, a recurring element in the Tarot Garden. The golden one represented the masculine part of being, the colored one the feminine.

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To present it, a memorable party was organized in New York: 32nd street was closed to organize a sort of street fair with live snakes and performances by artists. The party then moved to the La Coupole restaurant, on Park Avenue, one of the most loved addresses by the stars of the time (even Valentino welcomed his American friends there), an evening organized by Andy Warhol, where Niki showed up dressed in a suit by Marc Bohan for Dior, enriched with decorations of small snakes. To want all this was Carlo Bilotti, Italian mangaer and president of Jacqueline Cochran since 1973, who would also have acquired La Prairie (it is said that the blue of the Skin Caviar line was inspired by the color of the bottle of Niki’s perfume). The sales, at least in the early years, were a success and allowed the artist to realize his wishes in Tuscany.

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