BERGAMO.- From the luxury of the Renaissance courts to the best in contemporary creativity, a journey through tarot’s seven centuries of history. On the occasion of the extraordinary reuniting of the Colleoni deck, works from around the world describe the rich and inexhaustible seam of tarot cards, exploring their origins, their fortunes and their enduring appeal.

A long-awaited project: after more than a century, the 74 cards of the Colleoni deck – the most complete pack in the world, currently split between the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, and a private collection – will at long last be reunified. This extremely rare reunion has given rise to an equally unique project: an exhibition spanning the period from the 15th to the 21st centuries that, thanks to prestigious national and international loans, explores the history, patrons, artists and techniques of tarot, as well as the fascination that these cards continue to exert on people.

Initially created as an aristocratic pastime and then popularised through the invention of the printing press, tarot cards consolidated their role as an instrument for fortune telling in the 18th century, achieving quite remarkable cultural and symbolic significance throughout the 20th century and beyond. The project presents the widest overview of tarot ever assembled, covering: the origin of the cards; the refined, sumptuous milieux of the northern Italian courts through which the game spread in the mid-15th century; their evolution from noble pursuit to popular entertainment, before being transformed into a technique for divining the future; and last but not least, the recent fortunes of tarot cards, in the 20th century and right up to the present day.

It all adds up to a captivating study of the imaginative power of these cards, which have been casting spells for centuries: from the time of Bonifacio Bembo and Antonio Cicognara, who created the cards in the Colleoni deck, through to the miniatures inspired by Petrarch’s Triumphs and, later, the Surrealism of artists such as Victor Brauner, all the way to contemporary takes on tarot by Irving Penn, Niki de Saint Phalle, Leonora Carrington.

TAROT is being held in collaboration with the Morgan Library & Museum in New York (which itself will stage the exhibition "Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions", from 26 June to 4 October 2026, with a selection of the Bergamo cards from the Colleoni deck) and showcases, in the spaces of the Accademia Carrara, one-off loans from institutions such as the Bibliothèque National de France in Paris, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, and the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence.

Of particular significance are the partnerships with international museums such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Castello Sforzesco and the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples. For the contemporary art section, loans from institutions such as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and the Niki Charitable Art Foundation take their place alongside those from specialist private collections.

DE ANDRÉ’S TAROT CARDS
until 3 May 2026
Bergamo, Città Alta, Palazzo della Ragione

In conjunction with the main exhibition, Accademia Carrara in collaboration with Fondazione De André, pays tribute in Città Alta to the Genoese singer-songwriter with the installation, free of charge, DE ANDRÉ’S TAROT CARDS, curated by Studio Azzurro.

CHIARA CAMONI, LA FORZA
from June 2026
Bergamo, Accademia Carrara

Chiara Camoni (Piacenza, 1974), a leading light of the Italian Pavilion at the upcoming Biennale di Venezia, is installing at the Accademia Carrara a group of sculptures entitled "La Forza (Strength)", inspired by the tarot card of the same name.