I enjoy surrealism in art, the combination of meticulously detailed realistic subject matter with unreal, highly imaginative or dreamlike situations satisfies both sides of my taste.
Paul Delvaux was one of the 20th century's Belgian surrealists. His work was somewhat overshadowed by that of René Magritte, though it is reported that Delvaux did not consider himself of the same ilk, and was not in tune with any political aims espoused by the the Belgian surrealists. He saw his own style as following the carefully detailed realism of earlier Flemish artists such as Jan Van Eyck.
Delvaux was said to be a quiet and rather reclusive person. The subject matter of most of his paintings tends to be repetitive. Nude or almost nude statuesque females in suspended animation, classical architecture, and, oddly, skeletons and trains. There's an underlying ironic eroticism there, with some allusion to the double standards of Victorian sexual morality.
Looking through his paintings at Google Image I noticed that the Moon appears in many of them (a few examples follow). That, along with his obsession with the female nude figure had me wondering whether there'd be an emphasis on Cancer in his natal chart.
LES ASTRONOMES
LES PHASES DE LA LUNE III
MOONPHASES
THE GREAT SIRENS
THE SLEEPING VENUS
SOLITUDE
Paul Delvaux was born on 23 September 1897 in Antheit, near Huy, Belgium at, according to Astrodatabank, 10:00PM
Initially I worked with a 12 noon chart, didn't check Astrotheme or Astrodatabank until quite late in the proceedings, then was happy to find that Delvaux had Cancer rising! Cancer connects to all things feminine, and to its ruler...the Moon. The Moon itself lay in Leo as Delvaux was born, and - wouldn't ya know it.....conjunct Venus, planet of the arts! I love it when a plan comes together!
Paul Delvaux was one of the 20th century's Belgian surrealists. His work was somewhat overshadowed by that of René Magritte, though it is reported that Delvaux did not consider himself of the same ilk, and was not in tune with any political aims espoused by the the Belgian surrealists. He saw his own style as following the carefully detailed realism of earlier Flemish artists such as Jan Van Eyck.
Delvaux was said to be a quiet and rather reclusive person. The subject matter of most of his paintings tends to be repetitive. Nude or almost nude statuesque females in suspended animation, classical architecture, and, oddly, skeletons and trains. There's an underlying ironic eroticism there, with some allusion to the double standards of Victorian sexual morality.
Looking through his paintings at Google Image I noticed that the Moon appears in many of them (a few examples follow). That, along with his obsession with the female nude figure had me wondering whether there'd be an emphasis on Cancer in his natal chart.
LES ASTRONOMES
LES PHASES DE LA LUNE III
MOONPHASES
THE GREAT SIRENS
THE SLEEPING VENUS
SOLITUDE
Paul Delvaux was born on 23 September 1897 in Antheit, near Huy, Belgium at, according to Astrodatabank, 10:00PM
Initially I worked with a 12 noon chart, didn't check Astrotheme or Astrodatabank until quite late in the proceedings, then was happy to find that Delvaux had Cancer rising! Cancer connects to all things feminine, and to its ruler...the Moon. The Moon itself lay in Leo as Delvaux was born, and - wouldn't ya know it.....conjunct Venus, planet of the arts! I love it when a plan comes together!
Delvaux's Sun at 00 degree Libra is conjoined with Mercury and Jupiter in the late degrees of Virgo. Libra is ruled by Venus, planet of the arts, Mercury and Jupiter in Virgo link nicely to this artist's meticulous, realistic depiction of both architecture and the human female body.
As for his gravitation to the surreal and/or erotic: Saturn and Uranus (the traditional and the unexpected)are conjoined in Scorpio (sign of eroticism).
No more need be said!
LA CIUDAD DORMIDA (The Sleeping City)
LA RUE DU TRAMWAY
THE AWAKENING OF THE FOREST
THE CONVERSATION
LE VIADUC
HOMMAGE à JULES VERNE
8 comments:
Delvaux is a(sexual) "aberration" - in my humble view. Margritte as well, less serious though.
Gian Paul ~~ Pretty harmless though, GP? A deviation from the norm for sure, but then dreams always are deviations from the norm.
I don't mind a form of sexual aberration in art as long as it's not offensive or indicative of abuse. Balthus is an artist that I would never feature for that reason. I find his paintings offensive. Delvaux seems innocently ecentric, which is oddly appealing - to me anyway. Maybe I'm missing something - it wouldn't be the first time. ;-)
Magritte is one of my favourites - but I understand why others might dislike his painting style.
Have a probable preconception. Whereas Klimt/Schiele/Modigliani were also involved with "women in art", they looked for the "sexually esthetic". The Belgians place women into unappealing surroundings, or worse, paint unappealing women outright.
Google again. They can't leave me chosing the way I want to blog. If I do not use their system (which I know is tracked), I appear as anon.
What can I do, simple anon?/ alias Gian Paul
Gian Paul ~~~ Re the Google problem: If you comment as Anonymous and make the first words of your comment "From Gian Paul" that would solve it ?
Re the artists you mention - they were not surrealists, so it's comparing apples to oranges (to use a cliché. :-)
Aside from the art-style involved it's all a question of taste anyway. I find Modigliani's women quite unattractive, and although I do like some of Klimt's work, I feel that he's sometimes on the edge of being offensive. It's a fine line, and one that artists like him cared little about.
The women Devaulx painted have more in common with classical sculptures of females than real flesh and blood women.
Experimenting Google (again- but after installing a new program - registry booster tatata...)
Sorry, back again as it only worked half way with Google - gave a look at Obama's map in the meantime: He had Mars square Mars exact and Moon on his Sun when the basketball accident happened. Who governs, one may ask?
Gian Paul ~~~ I see you are still experiencing frustration from Google.....keep at it - :
'nil carborundum illegitimi'
;-)
Obama's accident - interesting, GP. Maybe "the Fates" are gving him a wake-up call.
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