Dali Tarot
WE DO HAVE A THING FOR THE APPLIED ARTS OF SALVADOR DALI. THE COOKBOOK, THE JEWELRY AND THE PARIS VOGUE ARE ALL PRODUCTS OF THE SEVENTIES. NOW A NEW OBSESSION. THE TAROT UNIVERSAL. COMMENCED IN 1976 AND FIRST ISSUED IN THIS BRUSHED COTTON BURGUNDY CASE IN 1984.
The Dali Universal Tarot. Loved it the first time we saw it. Never did get to write about it because whenever we Instagrammed it, we sold it. Now we have two boxes, have kept them OFF Insta and are about to unbox them.
Not bad. From the minor arcana. On the left, the Four of Batons: Apathy, contemplation, disconnectedness. You do indeed get all that from the artwork (plus a rooster / horse / female nude emerging from the left). On the right, the Three of Cups; community, home, celebration. Well, OK, it could be that.
Edged in gold with a repeated signature motif for the card backs. Dali designed 78 cards; the 22 major arcana, each with their titles to the top in English and the bottom in Spanish and with a Hebrew letter and astrological reference, and 56 cards of the minor arcana. Dali signed each and every artwork with flourish.
He cast himself as The Magician and King of Gold. He did love gold. And probably was magic. The cards are a kind of crazed cut and paste of actual painting and culture references snipped out of magazines. Couple more here.
Not such bad news as it might seem. The meaning of El Colgado being sacrifice, release, martyrdom. And hung by the ankle... Shakespeare wrote some of his most insightful sonnets that way.
Yeah, no getting round that one. Christmas is cancelled.
But before any untimely end, we have two of the original 1984 issued sets. They tend to DISAPPEAR fast but that is nothing new here. Hit the button below and lets make one of them yours.