While tarot cards are now commonly associated with fortune-telling and spiritual guidance, they began as a game for the Italian elite. In this short film from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, curators delve into the museum’s tarot collection – from rare hand-painted 15th-century decks to contemporary examples – tracing tarot’s evolution across ages. Throughout, they highlight the cards’ intricate craftsmanship, symbolic systems and links to diverse folklore, mythologies and astrology. Melding art and history, this short video explores how tarot endures as a rich visual language for expressing some of our most persistent hopes, fears and existential questions – with appeal even to those who don’t imbue the decks with preternatural powers.
Beyond fortune-telling – the enduring beauty and allure of tarot
Video by the Victoria and Albert Museum
Directors: Hannah Kingwell, Holly Hyams
videoDesign and fashion
The ornate, the aromatic, the cruel – Valentine’s cards before the age of Hallmark
16 minutes
videoHistory
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
videoTechnology and the self
How the magic of photography brought Victorian England closer to the spirit realm
16 minutes
videoHistory of ideas
Tantra is, and was, a subversive philosophy of feminine power
19 minutes
videoHistory of science
How one of history’s most beautiful books was used to find fate in the cosmos
6 minutes
videoStories and literature
The key to a vampire’s immortality? Meeting the anxieties of the moment
15 minutes
videoSocial psychology
Feeling connected to objects is a fundamental – and fraught – part of human nature
5 minutes
videoArt
Cut, paste and remix your way through this century-spanning history of collage
4 minutes
videoMedicine
Drinking wine from toxic cups was the 17th century’s own dubious ‘detox’ treatment
11 minutes