Tarot – Origins & Afterlives, the inaugural international exhibition in our new Kythera Gallery, will open on 31 January 2025, running until 30 April 2025. This groundbreaking exhibition explores tarot’s remarkable evolution, tracing its journey from its origins as a 15th-century card game in Renaissance Italy to its profound transformations into tools for divination, artistic creation, and storytelling.

The exhibition will present a historical overview of tarot, showcasing how it has been reimagined by artists, mystics, and writers over the centuries. Highlights include treasures from the Warburg’s own collections, many of which are being displayed for the first time, as well as significant loans from private and institutional archives.

Everyone knows that tarot is everywhere right now. But few have had the opportunity to see its long history, covering more than five centuries of cultural and countercultural work. We at the Warburg are thrilled to be hosting this historic show.

Bill Sherman, Warburg Institute Director

The Tarot, in the form of leaves of the book of Thoth placed in the temple of Fire at Memphis, Egypt. Mixed media by J.B. Alliette (Etteilla). c1788. Courtesy the Wellcome Collection

Exhibition Highlights

As we approach the opening, we are excited to reveal some of the extraordinary objects featured in the exhibition:

  • 15th-century Visconti tarot cards, the earliest surviving examples of tarot, from Northern Italy.
  • Frieda Harris’s original paintings for Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, displayed in England for the first time since her death in 1962.
  • Austin Osman Spare’s hand-painted tarot deck from around 1906, featuring an innovative card connection system, recently rediscovered in The Magic Circle’s collections.
  • Etteilla’s Livre de Thot cards, the first tarot cards explicitly designed for fortune-telling, from 18th-century France.
  • A Tarotkammer, a cabinet of curiosities featuring contemporary tarot decks by artists such as Courtney Alexander, Plastique Fantastique, and Candida Powell-Williams.

Public Programme and Events

An exciting programme of events will accompany the exhibition, including lectures, film screenings, and the UK premiere of Ugo Dossi’s augmented reality project, Trinity Tarot Garden. More details to come very soon. 

Ugo Dossi, Tarot Garden, augmented reality installation (visualised here in the Dolomites), 2024. Courtesy the artist.

Visitor Information

  • Dates: 31 January – 30 April 2025
  • Location: Kythera Gallery, The Warburg Institute
  • Admission: Free (timed tickets required) - book your tickets here.

Join us to explore the fascinating history of tarot, its enduring cultural impact, and the creative possibilities it continues to inspire today.