Salvador Dalí’s Surreal Tarot Card Deck To Be Released Again 30 Years After It Was First Designed
Salvador Dalí, one of the most famous surrealists is probably best remembered for his flamboyant personality, “Lobster Telephone”, melting clocks and his ‘always pointing towards the sky’ mustache. But only a handful of the artist’s biggest fans are familiar with the virtuoso’s fascination with the occult. One of the most prominent examples of his knack for the supernatural is the deck of Tarot cards he was commissioned to create for the James Bond film, Live and Let Die. However, the cards never appeared in the picture.
More info: taschen.com
Image credits: Taschen
Image credits: Taschen
In the 1970s, when preparing for props, the producer of Live and Let Die, Albert Broccoli, decided to ask Salvador Dalí to work on the creation of a custom deck of Tarot cards.
Image credits: Taschen
Dalí eagerly accepted the offer, possibly incited by his wife Gala who got him interested in mysticism.
Image credits: Taschen
However, the deal fell through when Dalí requested a fee so big that it was too high even for the film’s $7million budget.
Image credits: Taschen
Despite that, the maestro continued working on the Tarot deck and nearly a decade later, in 1984, it was finished.
Image credits: Taschen
The limited-edition of the deck was put up for sale and quickly sold. The cards were not on the market up until now, when nearly 30 years later, Taschen Books decided to resurrect Dalí’s Tarot cards.
Image credits: Taschen
The deck perfectly combines Dalí’s knowledge of the arcane and his signature motifs: dissected faces, ants, roses, and butterflies. It features Dalí himself as the Magician, while his wife poses as the Empress.
Image credits: Taschen
The new edition features an explanatory booklet authored by tarot expert Johannes Fiebig. It includes an introduction about Dalí and a guide explaining the meaning of each card and how to perform a reading.
Image credits: Taschen
The deck will be available for sale on November 15th and will cost $60.
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Here’s how people reacted
Hahahaha because of this article I just bought a -signed by Dalì- litography of the knight (not on this article) Thanks !
These are freaking amazing! I would buy them for the artwork alone, but the price is pretty darn steep.
More than 20 years ago, those tarot cards came as a gift with an esoteric magazine in my country, this year I visited my house again and found them, I threw them in the trash because I told myself who would like to have this? they were just one more thing in the candy box, if I had thought they were designed by Dali I gave them another chance.
or you could have sold them