Arty Farty Friday ~ Paul Signac, Félix Fénéon, Scorpio, Anarchy.

Paul Signac: born on 11 November 1863 in Paris, France into a family of prosperous shopkeepers, thanks to whom whom he had the luxury of financial independence. No starving artist in a lonely garret was he then! His original plan was to study architecture, but the French Impressionists caught his imagination, led him along a different career path. He's remembered for being one of the originators, along with Seurat, of the technique in art known as pointillism.

Politically he was an anarchist, as were many of his friends, including Félix Fénéon and Camille Pissarro.

When I called up a Google Image page of Signac's works one of them immediately caught my eye: a portrait of his friend, Félix Fénéon, influential critic, anarchist and champion of the avant-garde; "a kind of cultural terrorist" who may have been involved in actual terrorist acts. Fénéon worked in the War Ministry by day, but by night morphed into a bohemian and anarchist art critic.

His 1890 painting, above, is strangely titled Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon. The title refers to the combination of sounds, lines, and colors that symbolist artists drew upon to convey the inner world of their subjects. Signac suggests his subject's theatrical personality and creative energy as he strides across a stage to offer a flower to an unseen figure, against a kaleidoscopic backdrop of swirling colors. Signac is said to have based this design on a Japanese print. The stars in the lower right corner may be a reference to Fénéon's interest in the United States; the critic apparently cultivated a resemblance to Uncle Sam, complete with top hat and goatee.

The painting stood out for me because it seemed somehow 'out of time" among the rest of his works. It reminded me of some of the artwork around the time of the Beatles' heyday, in the 1960s. Signac died in 1935 by the way.

A quick look at Paul Signac's natal chart (see it here at astro.com)

Updated with Signac's natal chart calculated using the Koch system rather than Placidus houses (see comment by mike below):

Wow! Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and north node of Moon all in Scorpio with Aries rising. Pluto, ruler of Scorpio, is opposing some of the Scorpio planets from Taurus. Venus and Saturn in artistic Libra, and Uranus, planet of the avant-garde in Gemini. Without knowing more about Signac's personality it's not possible to see how such a heavy load of Scorpio manifested. It doesn't appear to have done so in his paintings. Perhaps it emerged from his draw to anarchy, and anarchists then?

Félix Fénéon ( his natal chart is at astrotheme here)was of the same Uranus in Gemini generation, born 2 years before Signac. He's more of a Cancer/Pisces/Leo guy though. Possibly the Watery link (Scorpio/Cancer/Pisces) was their immediately felt compatible connection.