The artist who lived inside a giant sculpture

A closer look

Escaping reality takes on a literal meaning when you wander through Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden in Tuscany. The renegade artist spent two decades building colossal, wildly psychedelic sculptures covered in mirrors and mosaics based on esoteric tarot cards. She didn't just build them to look at, though; she actually lived inside the mirrored breasts of the giant 'Empress' sphinx sculpture while constructing the rest of the park, proving the best art is the kind you can aggressively squat in.