Oswald Wirth Tarot of 1889

Wirth simplified the figures into strong outlines and deliberate colour fields, then added letters and symbols that invite correspondence-based reading. Familiar Marseille postures remain visible, but every alteration asks the reader to distinguish historical inheritance from a new occult program.

Oswald Wirth created the original twenty-two-card series in 1889 in collaboration with Stanislas de Guaita. It is a Major Arcana sequence rather than a complete seventy-eight-card pack. Later expanded and recoloured editions have their own publication histories; this entry and its representative image refer specifically to the historical public-domain work.