Niki de Saint-Phalle was a French-American artist who was ahead of her time. She was a performance artist before it was a thing, created perfumes with her own branding before others copied her, had a personal style so confident that Gloria Steinem called her “the first free woman I’ve ever seen,” and was a remarkable artist.

Her masterpiece is the Tarot Garden in southern Tuscany, where she created huge, colorful sculptures of the 22 major arcana of the tarot. It was inspired by Gaudi’s fantastical Parc Guell in Barcelona, and having seen both I have to say that Saint-Phalle has surpassed the master.

The Tarot Garden is spread over 14 acres and each sculpture is stunning. They are so intricate that it took Saint-Phalle over two decades to create them all, and one is so big that she lived inside it while she worked!

To learn more about Niki de Saint-Phalle and her art, and to see beautiful photos of the Tarot Garden, check out this article in Frenchly!