Long before it became a tool for fortune-telling, the tarot was a courtly game of skill, played by Italian aristocrats under the painted gaze of gilded saints and virtues. If you think of tarot purely in terms of the occult, the Morgan Library & Museum's new exhibition, Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions, is about to rewrite your understanding of the deck.
Running from June 26 through October 4, 2026, the exhibition centers on a rare reunion. For the first time in North America, the Morgan has brought together its own 15th-century Visconti-Sforza cards with the surviving counterparts from the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy. It is a stunning look at one of the oldest and most exquisite decks in existence, painted by Bonifacio Bembo.
How to Look at the Visconti-Sforza Cards
When you walk into the Morgan's galleries on Madison Avenue, you are not looking at a modern divination tool. You are looking at a masterclass in Renaissance craftsmanship. The Visconti-Sforza cards are hand-painted miniature panels, glowing with punched gold leaf and rich tempera. They were commissioned not to predict the future, but to flaunt the wealth and refined taste of the ruling families of Milan.
To really appreciate this exhibition, you have to shed the modern baggage associated with the cards. Look at the detailed tooling in the gold backgrounds. Notice the heavy, folded drapery of the figures, which mirrors the high fashion of 15th-century courts. This is art meant to be held and admired up close, a different experience entirely from hanging large vertical wall art to anchor a room, reflecting a period when even a card game was an opportunity for artistic patronage.
The Shift to Modern Visions
The Morgan does not ignore the occult; instead, it traces how the cards evolved. The second half of the exhibition, Modern Visions, shows how a Renaissance card game morphed into a mystical system centuries later. You will see how the potent symbolism of the cards eventually captured the imaginations of 20th-century artists.
Surrealists like André Breton and contemporary creators like Chris Ofili drew heavily on the archetype-rich visual language that the Visconti-Sforza deck helped establish. The leap from courtly entertainment to psychological exploration is fascinating, but the exhibition makes one thing clear: the roots are firmly planted in the soil of the Italian Renaissance.
Seeing the Show
If you are in New York City, Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions is a must-see. The Morgan Library is located at 225 Madison Avenue. The chance to see the reunited Visconti-Sforza cards in person, to see the way the light catches the 600-year-old gold leaf, is rare. It is a powerful reminder that some of our most enduring mystical symbols began simply as breathtaking works of art.
For more details on visiting, you can check the Morgan Library & Museum website.
If this exhibition inspires you to bring more mystical or historical imagery into your own space, explore our collection of surrealism art to find pieces that echo this rich visual language.
