Actor Johnny Depp turned to tarot iconography for inspiration for a set of paintings that includes a tribute to his former partner, French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, and which went on sale this week.
Tarot comprises four pieces: The Lovers, The Empress, The Emperor and Strength, each nodding to the tarot card imagery.
“I’ve always been tremendously curious about the tarot,” Depp said in a video.
“There’s a great art to the cards themselves, dating back to forever ago and the unseen art of reading the cards.”
The Lovers depicts a well-dressed couple, with the male holding a red rose, while The Empress, featuring a female figure wearing a weathered crown, pays tribute to Paradis with whom Depp was together for 14 years before their 2012 split. They have two children, and Depp said they had remained “very close”.
Strength depicts a gazing elephant and is inscribed with the words: “Why do you want to fight with something that doesn’t want to fight with you?” It was inspired by a painting Depp made when Paradis was pregnant.
Eyeless but with made-up red lips, The Emperor recalls a 17th-century French monarch and was inspired by a work Depp made while filming Jeanne du Barry, in which he played King Louis XV, in Versailles.
Depp’s Tarot series, limited to 195 editions and priced at US$4,500 for an individual framed piece, follows previous collections by the actor. It was being sold by British art retailer Castle Fine Art.