Conceived in two parts, this exhibition at The Morgan Library & Museum (on view until 4 October 2026), explores the origins of tarot in Renaissance Italy and its contemporary relevance as an enduring source of inspiration for twentieth- and twenty-first-century artists.
Originally created as a courtly game of skill, tarot was not associated with occult secrets, divination, or the power of fate until centuries later. By the twentieth century, the cards came to serve as a source of inspiration for artists, offering an alternative to the strictures of modernist aesthetics and allowing them to explore other universes and imaginative possibilities.
Image: Chris Ofili, Midnight Conjurer, 2026
Ink, watercolour, staples, and paper collage on paper
59.8 x 63.6 x 15 cm, 23 1/2 x 25 x 5 7/8 in
© Chris Ofili
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
