Johnny Depp has revealed a painting inspired by his ex-partner Vanessa Paradis, describing her as “everything I could never be”.
The Empress is part of the actor’s latest collection of four tarot-inspired artworks.
While Depp is best known for his work in Hollywood, he is also a musician and a painter, and released his first collection of artwork in 2022 – just weeks after winning his high-profile defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard in the US.
Depp and Paradis, pictured at the Los Angeles premiere of his film Sleepy Hollow in 1999, were together from 1998 to 2012
The 61-year-old says the images featured in the four new pieces – The Lovers, The Emperor and Strength, as well as The Empress – are inspired by his life, dreams and acting career.
The Empress is a tribute to Paradis, the mother of Depp’s children, Lily-Rose and Jack, and is based on one of his old paintings, used for the cover of her 2007 album Divinidylle.
It features a portrait of a woman wearing a tarnished crown.
“We’ve been very, very close for almost a few decades,” Depp says of Paradis, in footage introducing the collection. “I know her and I know who she is inside. She’s kind of everything that I could never be…
“It looks like a crown that has weathered storms. It shows a certain courage and a strength of commitment. And then whatever’s happening in the world behind her, she still shines.”
Amber Heard and Depp pictured in January 2016, just a few months before their break-up. Pic: AP
‘Elephants are mysterious creatures’
Depp and Paradis were together from 1998 to 2012. He started dating Heard, who he met on the set of their 2011 film The Rum Diary, shortly after their break-up was announced.
Strength, which depicts an elephant, also relates to his relationship with Paradis. Depp says the image is inspired again by one of his previous paintings, created when she was expecting their first child.
“He was done when Vanessa was probably about six or seven months pregnant,” Depp says in the footage. “Elephants are mysterious creatures. They don’t live with menace in their bones. They protect their own up to the bitter end against any foe. There’s real empathy in them, and they’re very, very bright. Very, very loyal.”
The actor says he and Paradis are still ‘very close’. Pic: Pantheon Art
‘Not necessarily to be trusted’
Depp describes The Lovers as “the beginning of the story”, with a male figure holding a rose and “protecting” a female figure.
However, he says The Emperor, a faceless figure, “is not necessarily to be trusted”.
Depp continues: “He’s replaceable. He’s disposable. I certainly couldn’t, I wouldn’t dare put my own face as an Emperor. Never. The Emperor is somewhat faceless, because if you put the Emperor next to the Empress, who do you trust? The Empress.”
The actor says he has “always been tremendously curious about tarot” and that the paintings “identify certain periods in my life – each of these cards, each of the paintings, are my idea of my tarot set”.
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Depp made millions in just a few hours following the release of his first artworks.
His Tarot collection is on sale through Castle Fine Art from 2pm.
It comes after the actor’s return to the big screen earlier this year in historical drama Jeanne Du Barry, his first major film appearance following his lawsuits against Heard in the US, and the publishers of The Sun newspaper in the UK.
Following his UK case in 2020, a High Court judge found Depp had assaulted Heard during their relationship.
However, in 2022, he successfully sued Heard over a 2018 article she wrote for The Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse, which his lawyers said falsely accused him of being an abuser.