Art Sunday: Paul Gauguin and Mars square Pluto

In my research about Gauguin, I found one sentence that summed up his work/chart/life rather succinctly. The quote was found here and states, “Paul Gauguin was a self-pitying (Moon/Neptune) pedarest (Mars/Pluto), wife beater (Mars/Pluto) who also was a great artist.”

Yep. That pretty much sums it up.

 

Te Faruru-Gauguin

Gauguin's life definitely shows us just exactly what the shadow of Mars/Pluto can look like. It also shows us how catalytic symbolism (Uranus conjunct Pluto in Aries) can be particularly when it involves the shadow side of religion (Jupiter in Cancer square Uranus/Pluto in Aries).

The Yellow Christ-Gaughin

Gauguin died of syphilis before being able to serve a prison sentence that was enforced by a Polynesian church after they were outraged by a series of memoirs he had written about his life in Tahiti. Jupiter in Cancer = the religious doctrines of the homeland vs Mars in Leo (active artistry) square Pluto/Uranus in Aries = one man's (Aries) creation that evokes catalyzing (Uranus) symbolism (Pluto).

Symbolism was of great importance to Gauguin. He even became severely depressed and attempted to commit suicide in his later life due to the fact that he felt current European art trends lacked symbolic depth.

“Where do we come from” is one of Gauguin's more well known Tahitian paintings. It (as well as his other works) have been described as “quasi-religious symbolism" and "an exoticized view of the inhabitants of Polynesia."

Where do we come from?-Gauguin

Gauguin also had a mashup of Neptune/Moon/Venus locked in a mutable t-square. Moon in Virgo was opposite Neptune in Pisces. Venus squared both these points from Gemini. He was often disappointed that the world didn't live up to his ideals. His finances were always elusive and he disappeared from his first wife and five children leaving them poor and destitute (Venus/Neptune). Some accounts attest that his first wife asked him to leave after he raised the hackles of the religious in that area.

Also from the above cited article, the author describes that Gauguin's display of Metamorphoses “hones in on his expressively carved lines. Gaughin treated the girl like an abstraction. She resonated as a symbol of primitive beliefs, the power that superstition holds over the simple psyche.” Again, this is very reflective of Mars/Pluto/Uranus in play with Jupiter in Cancer.

Manoa tupapau-Gauguin. The subject of his painting is his 13 year old Polynesian wife

“Sex and violence permeate the work of a savage and predatory man” and “the drama of erotic dreams and visions in which the orgasmic and spiritual intertwine” are also descriptions that accurately depict Gauguin's art and astrology.
 

Soyez amoureuses vous serez heureuses


 

Correlations with Gauguin's chart and our current astrology:
Sun in Gemini
Gauguin has Moon square Neptune, we have this coming in with the New Moon in Gemini
Mars will perfect in square to Pluto for the 3rd time on June 14
Venus will square Neptune on June 29th
Neptune in Pisces
Uranus in Aries
Conflict between Jupiter in Cancer and Pluto (Aries for Gauguin/Capricorn for our current times)