As I was designing the cards for this deck, I'd zoom in on Vincent's paintings. When you go in a lot closer, there is an entirely new world that opens up.
This painting wanted to be The Magician. The process of matching the paintings with the Support cards that I wrote and the Major Arcana was done intuitively. It happened over the course of 9 months of really getting close to these works.
Portrait of Joseph Roulin, Vincent van Gogh, 1889, Kröller-Müller Museum, Netherlands. I saw this painting just a few months ago in May 2024! It's one of my favorite paintings that Vincent made.
I zoomed in on a detail of Wheatfield with a Reaper for The Sun card. The spiral texture of the wheat was used for the front of all of the cards.
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​I just love this painting. It's filled with such incredible light! And yet Vincent painted Wheatfield with a Reaper from his hospital room. He was not allowed to leave the grounds of the asylum for the first few months.
Wheatfield with a Reaper
Vincent van Gogh
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, September 1889
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
“And in a painting, I’d like to say something consoling, like a piece of music.”
– Vincent van Gogh