The Tarot Garden was created by the French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle between 1979 and 2002. She was a remarkable sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated children’s books, and the garden is her masterpiece; two dozen monumental statues in steel and concrete of animals, monsters, and female figures covered in glass and colorful ceramics, plus buildings, paths, water features, and walkways.

The garden opened in 1998, and is world famous. She worked in a deliberately naïve, childish, and experimental style, and died in 2002 after years of chronic health problems caused by the glass fibers and chemical fumes from the materials she worked with. The statue in Piazza Belvedere in Capalbio is also by her, and the garden itself is open to the public year round, and only five minutes drive from Capalbio.