Arty Farty Friday ~ Canadian Painter Tom Thomson & His Mysterious Death.

This time, looking to discover whether astrology can help explain the mysterious and tragic death of a painter.

Tom Thomson, one of Canada’s most influential painters of the 20th-century, was last seen alive around mid-day, July 8, 1917, when setting out alone across Canoe Lake to begin a fishing trip. He was familiar with the area, having visited there a number of times – while working in the Park as a fire ranger, a guide for fishing parties, and of course, pursuing his painting. Within hours of his departure, his empty canoe was spotted floating not far from the dock he had left from, and more than a week later, his body surfaced in the lake. His untimely death helped transform the aspiring artist into a cultural giant. His paintings are now seen in galleries across Canada, and exhibitions of his work always attract large audiences. In the last few years, paintings by Thomson have fetched over a million dollars at auction.

How Thomson died, who found his body, its condition, and even its final resting place all remain mysteries. Some propose the cause of Thomson’s death was an accident resulting from plain bad luck, while others suggest suicide, and still others point to foul play resulting from a conflict over debt, a love interest, or opinions about the war effort. To add even more mystery to the affair there are serious questions regarding whether Thomson’s body was moved from its first resting place............

(More HERE)








From a piece on Thomson by Lee Parsons HERE

Tom Thomson grew up in a family of 10 children in the small town of Leith, Ontario, near the shores of Georgian Bay. Second-generation Scottish, his parents placed a good deal of importance on their children’s cultural education, encouraging them in the areas of literature, art and particularly music.........

Thomson suffered from a weak constitution as a child and at a certain point was taken out of school because of a chronic lung ailment. Consequently, he spent a good deal of time away from the social interaction of school and passed many of his formative years relatively isolated, often exploring the neighboring forests and fields where he developed a close affinity with nature. Though he could be highly focused when he set himself a task, he typically wouldn’t pursue any interest for very long and this aimlessness characterized his early adult years. He worked in various occupations—as a farmer and as a machinist, and at one point he attended business school in Chatham, Ontario, before he found a pursuit that brought him some satisfaction.

Thomson’s brothers had ventured out to Seattle when he was 20 to start a business school, and he followed them there and began working as a photoengraver for an advertising company. With some success under his belt, he returned to Ontario to continue as a photoengraver and during this time set about developing his skills as a graphic designer. It was at this point that he took to drawing, albeit in somewhat crude strokes, taking some classes in both drawing and painting for a time.

Little is known about his activities until 1911—about five years later. While in Seattle, there is some record of a troubled romantic episode that may have prompted his return to Toronto; his relations with women seem to have been problematic on the whole. It was during this time, however, that he began working for a prominent commercial art firm then known as Grip Limited where he met some of the men who were to influence his development as a landscape painter.

Noon chart for birth of Tom Thomson - 5 August 1877 in Claremont, Ontario, Canada.

Noon chart for 8July, 1917, possible date of death of Tom Thomson on Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada.

Any ideas? I see that transiting Uranus, planet of the unexpected, was opposing natal Uranus at the time of Thomson's death.

Natally, Jupiter in Sagittarius trined Uranus in Leo, while Pluto was in square aspect to Uranus.

On date of death the transiting conjunction of Saturn/Neptune/Venus at 1/3/5 Leo was in the general area of Thomson's natal Sun at 13 degrees, but certainly not close enough to be considered conjunct at that time - whether this is relevant I'm unsure.

The Uranus opposition seems most of interest.