Tarot for a Broken World
The Morgan Library’s exhibition ‘Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions’ examines early surviving tarot decks from the 15th century and their evolution into 20th-century artistic practice. The show features the Visconti-Sforza deck (c. 1450–58), a gold and silver leaf embellished set created by Bonifacio Bembo for the Milanese aristocracy, alongside the hand-colored engraved Sola Busca Tarot (c. 1491). The exhibition traces tarot’s trajectory from Renaissance parlor game to spiritual divination tool, exploring how the card format’s structural remixability enabled reinterpretation across centuries of cultural upheaval. The pentacles suit reflects tarot’s co-emergence with Renaissance capital accumulation, while the medium’s longevity stems partly from its capacity to absorb contemporary anxieties through symbolic redeployment.
Original article published on Hyperallergic — AI-generated summary. Visit the website to read the full article at the source. Image via Hyperallergic.
