Profiling the Arty Farty

Still on this week's theme, mentioned in Monday's post:
I'd not looked at my own "profile" on this blog for years. In 2006, when I opened Learning Curve on the Ecliptic, I listed my interests as: "astrology, psychic phenomena, music, politics, art, writing". This week, just for a change from random scribbling, I'm re-airing, at a rate of one topic per day, a past post - one that I feel remains relevant.

Today's topic, because it's Arty Farty Friday, has to be: art. So many artists have been investigated on Fridays, over the years, it's hard to choose just one. How about this somewhat ragged, forgotten post from way back in April, 2007?

Surrealism, Abstract Art and Astrology

Styles of art have always intrigued me, especially surrealism and abstract art, which tend to overlap. These are expressions of the unconscious mind, concepts, emotions and ideas. Some artists who embraced these styles eschewed representational art entirely, in favour of symbolism form and colour, while others retained almost photographic depiction of their subject, but set it in surreal situations.

I wondered whether any indication towards one or other of these styles might be found in the natal charts of some well known artists. Using the "stand well back" approach I concentrated on two generational planets, Uranus and Neptune, along with Saturn. Reason: Saturn represents the establishment, the status quo, and probably representational art - realism. Uranus represents the new, the avant garde, the inventive. Neptune is involved with the dreamy and imaginative. Although Uranus and Neptune are generational, I think that the way Saturn interacts with them might be significant here, in the way the artists gravitated towards two different styles of expression.

Next to each birth date below I've listed the sign positions of Uranus, Neptune and Saturn, in that order. (Harmonious and inharmonious aspects are within reasonable orb/limits.)


Salvador Dali used strange dream-like images in his pictures , yet the figures and objects he used were mainly recognisable and intricately drawn. Likewise in the case of Rene Magritte and Escher.

Dali -11 May 1904 Figueras, Spain. (Sag/Can/Aqua) - Uranus and Saturn in harmony, Neptune not.





Magritte (left) - 21 Nov. 1898, Lessines, Belgium. (Sag/Gem/Sag) - All in harmony.








Escher 18 June 1898, Leeuwarden, Netherlands. (Sag/Gem/Sag)- All in harmony.









Dali, Magritte and Escher are what I'd call "representational surrealists", depicting real people, creatures or objects in surreal situations. In their charts Saturn and Uranus are in harmony, perhaps giving these artists the wish, and the ability to express ideas in new ways, but without fully abandoning the traditional.

Artists such as Klee, Miro, and Mondrian used shapes, symbols, balance and colour to convey their message.


Paul Klee 18 Dec. 1879, Munchenbuchsee, Switzerland. (Virgo/Taurus/Aries) Uranus out of tune with Saturn.








Mondrian 7 March 1872, Amersfoort, Netherlands. (Can/Aries/Cap) Uranus opposes Saturn.









Miro 20 April 1893, Barcelona, Spain. (Scorpio/Gem/Lib) Uranus out of tune with Saturn





Klee, Miro and Mondrian painted in symbols, with forms and colour to get their message across - no hint of realism at all. In the natal charts of these artists Uranus and Saturn are not in harmony. The artists have moved right away from the traditional to new means of expression. There is no merging of old and new.