Category: oil painting

Henri Matisse, Breaking New Ground in Art – Astrology Musings

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Photo by Shelagh Murphy from Pexels

Henri Matisse, rival of Picasso, was one of the ground breaking artists of the last hundred years or so. He was noted for his sculpture and printmaking too.

Having first trained as a lawyer in France, he disappointed his wealthy father by taking up painting.

Meeting Australian artist John Russell in Brittany changed his life. Russell introduced him to impressionism and the work of Van Gogh.

Intensity of colour

Immediately he began to experiment with the use of intense colour, which led him to being one of the forerunners of the Fauvist movement of the early 1900s. From then on, he became ever more experimental, using large blocks of intense colour and increasingly more revolutionary styles. His extraordinary career spanned 50 years.

Astrologically, Matisse was born with expressive Leo on the ascendant, always pretty useful for a creative person who wants to make a mark.

His Moon in Sagittarius in house 5 would add a creative restlessness to his character, always open to new influences, especially from abroad. Nevertheless, with Saturn quite close to the Moon, he would always likely seek practical ways of applying that expression.

Personal drive

However, his ruler, the Sun, is found in Capricorn in house 6. Here is the ambition added to the forceful personality, the determination to apply and establish himself through hard work.

What is more, his Sun is trine a Jupiter Pluto conjunction on his midheaven in Taurus. This adds great practical opportunities and an intense drive to his career aspirations.

Practical application

The fact that he could turn his hand to more tactile work like sculpture and printmaking is shown by the Capricorn Taurus link up here.

Venus rules Taurus and his Venus is in Aquarius, hinting of his unusual, unique perspective on art. Jupiter, prominently placed and aspected, also rules his house 5 of creativity, which adds further to the mix.

Channelled energies

Though his Mercury in Capricorn shows mental astuteness, it is in exact opposition to his Uranus in Cancer in house 12 and square Neptune in Aries in house 9.

I think this indicates much mental agitation and energy, especially with Mars also not far away from Mercury. With Uranus in house 12 and Neptune involved, he might not have been consciously aware of where this agitated energy came from, but it may well have been a bonus for his creativity, inspiration and originality in art.

copyright Leofwine Tanner 2019

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Light and Colour – Astrology Musings

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Photo by Daian Gan from Pexels

One of the most well known figures from the French Impressionist movement, Renoir’s birth chart has some highly interesting features.

Firstly, there is Neptune rising in Aquarius, loosely sextiling both Jupiter and Pluto.

Aquarius is often rather different, a forward thinker, though also with a conservative streak. Neptune’s nebulous, inspirational qualities placed here, will find a unique style of expression. Here is an unusual, mysterious, (and yes, impressionable), though highly inspired personality.

And Neptune is usually regarded as a feminine energy; Renoir’s depictions of females are particularly noteworthy, as if there was a deep connection to the archetype.

Light and Colour

It’s interesting to note that he preferred singing to drawing or painting when he was younger, the former being considered his greater talent. Mercury conjunct Uranus in Pisces, plus Venus conjunct Moon in Aries, may also reflect natural singing talent, as well as artistic ability. The vibrant light and saturated colour are a key character of his paintings, which also reflects the astrological symbolism.

Allied to this, his Sun trine Mars (10th house) and the Mercury Uranus conjunction (already mentioned above) in Pisces in the 2nd house, underlines his manner of needing to make a ‘secure’ living and career using his key artistic and unusual talents. He might have made a rather good poet, too, if he had shown the inclination.

Mars in Scorpio (10th) would add a determined ambition, sustained over time, an important strengthening feature amidst a lot of inspiration.

The female nude

Another notable feature, alluded to above, is the conjunction of Moon, Venus and Pluto in Aries in the 3rd house.

Here, we might speculate, is symbolised the deep, ardent love of femininity. He was indeed one of the primary impressionist painters of the female nude.

Renoir travelled quite extensively for his career, too, going to Algeria, Spain, Italy and Guernsey. Sagittarius on the midheaven with Jupiter in its own sign is an indication that travel, or exploring all avenues, will be a feature of the career.

copyright Leofwine Tanner 2019

Astrology Bites: Vincent Van Gogh

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Photo by wendel moretti on Pexels.com

We are inspired by many things. What makes someone pick up a guitar and try to play it? Why are some of us artistic and others not?

And what made an artist like Van Gogh paint with such compulsive passion and intensity?

A look at his birth chart may cast a little light on this.

Spiritual impulses

The part of his chart that particularly stands out for me is the 9th/10th house around his midheaven.

Here we have Venus conjunct Mars in Pisces, along with Neptune in the earlier part of the Fish.

We know he initially wanted to be a priest, and certainly, one interpretation of this aspect, close to the midheaven, could be that he was very much inclined to religious feelings and impulses and would want to use them outwardly, in a career.

Uniting with the numinous

In Pisces, though, it’s often difficult to know where these feelings come from, there’s a lot of subconscious, unfathomable energy here, a deep impulsive need to unite with the numinous, strongly and intensely.

So, in other words, the love principle is very deep here and emotionally supercharged by nearby Mars square to Jupiter.

But although he clearly had a strong spiritual impulse, it never quite seemed to suit or satisfy him being involved in a conventionally religious way, like training for the priesthood.

Expression in the world

The process of painting, using strong imagery and colours, however, eventually gave this deep intensity greater expression in the world.

Painting brought all of this out into the open in a most wondrous flowering of creativity over a relatively short period of time, bequeathing to us an incredible legacy.

His Sun and Mercury in Aries would only heighten this energy and impatience, giving him great verbosity (trine Jupiter) too, plus a tendency towards impatience and anger.

Wanderlust

Van Gogh was always likely to travel too. Cancer rising gave him an emotional, caring approach to life but his ruler, the Moon, is in far ranging Sagittarius and close to the Archer’s ruler Jupiter in his 6th house of work. And Jupiter also rules the sign on the midheaven, doubling up.

This in itself, is an indicator of travelling long distances for work, but also has religious and philosophical connotations, if not the deeper, more spiritual impulses.

Creative outpouring

Although born in Holland, he spent time in London and northern France, before settling in the south of France for those last, few, incredibly intense years of his short life, which produced, arguably, one of the most brilliant outpourings of artistic creativity ever.

It’s as if painting was the only medium which allowed him to express what he felt subconsciously.

However, in the end, even painting failed to keep him long in this world. I’m sure, however, that we are eternally grateful that he stayed long enough to leave us so many paintings to enjoy.

A fish out of water

He sought the eternal numinous in his short life but was never quite satisfied. Ironically, his struggle did achieve eternal fame for him posthumously. He only sold one painting while he was alive.

Looking at his chart as a whole, it is largely top heavy. Van Gogh poured out his soul to the world which could not sustain him.

He was very much a fish out of water.

Paintings: The Norfolk Coast, England

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Cley, North Norfolk

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Here is a ‘blast from the past’, some of my many oil paintings on the subject of Norfolk and its beaches. The one above is of the beach huts at Wells.

Below is an interpretation of the beach at Heacham, near King’s Lynn.

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copyright Leofwine Tanner 2019

Poem: At Cromer

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When I look down toward the beach,
the distant pier seems to stride
forward from the shining sea.
I like to look beyond,
to the bands of turquoise and blue,
an ocean painted in bold,
abandoned strokes.

Why are we drawn to the waves?
Those elemental rhythms,
sounds and colours
of a primary world,
where sparse pointillist spots
busy themselves on
yellow-ochre sands.

Some days the morning
unfolds through mists,
groynes spacing out
the distances along the strand,
until a final fade-out,
well before the sea
can meet the sky.

Overhead, pterodactyl shapes
patrol against fresh patches
of blue. As I approach,
the blurred semblances
of buildings appear, rectangles
feathered violet or grey,
as if stepping off the cliff.

copyright Leofwine Tanner 2019, 2011