Tarot del Toro

Guillermo del Toro’s monsters, haunted houses and dark fairy-tale settings are the material for Tarot del Toro, a 78-card pack illustrated by Tomás Hijo. Published by Insight Editions in 2020, it is accompanied by a guidebook. Del Toro writes in its foreword:

“We have taken great care in marrying the Arcana with the characters and symbols of my filmography.”

Above: the Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth (left), the child-eating creature that keeps its eyes in its palms, beside Hijo’s tarot image.

Guillermo del Toro is the Mexican filmmaker behind a body of dark fantasy and monster films, recognised with Academy Awards for The Shape of Water. The box names Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water among the sources for Hijo’s artwork.

Hijo and del Toro first came into contact after del Toro bought one of Hijo’s prints from a Los Angeles tribute exhibition. They exchanged messages and later met at a dinner in Paris, where Hijo proposed the pack. Del Toro backed it and chose Insight Editions, the American publisher of several of his earlier non-tarot books.

Above: Tomás Hijo with Tarot del Toro cards in his studio. Photo: Almeida.

Hijo describes the cards as “hand-painted linocut prints”. Heavy black outlines, close hatching and a restricted range of red, brown and ochre give the cards their printed character. Familiar characters sit alongside invented scenes and figures: Hellboy appears as the Devil, while the Amphibian Man from The Shape of Water is one of the Lovers.

The four suits are Blades, Goblets, Wands and Discs. Blades, Goblets and Discs replace the usual Swords, Cups and Pentacles, while Wands keeps its name.