ARTICLE
Some paintings by Vassily Kandinsky, the progression to abstract art, and his birth chart's patterns.
Born in Moscow, Kandinsky began his art studies inside of the Impressionist painting style at the end of the XIX th c., and in a few years derived into the abstract expressionism, becoming himself the main reference of the movement in the following century. This article includes his birth chart, as well as a secondary chart with only lunar nodes' aspectations, so the birth karmic tendencies can be appreciated better.
Under a Sagittarius Sun, he worked as art director in the Kushnerev printing (Sun-Venus), wrote about art theories (Mercury-Venus) and taught at the Bauhaus for ten years, the famous school of Architecture and Arts that provided the bases of graphic and industrial design (Jupiter in Aquarius).
b. 12.16.1866 (Russia). Uncertain birthtime.
- wide orb aspectations -
I. Style progressions
He began art studies when he was 30 years-old, after the planet of karma finished its first cycle (Saturn), and only eight years later he founded his own school. He also became part of several small groups of artists, and at some moment of his life they even lived together in a country house where they used to work. One of those groups was called The Blue Rider, where each member displayed his singular style. The same union of the diverse was displayed in the contents of the group's yearbook, whose first (and only) issue included several arts from different cultures and ages, with illustrations of paintings, sculptures, musical notes and texts attached to them.
Mostly impressionist paintings can be found during his first years as an artist. The movement tries to evoke emotions and feelings through the view of outer phenomena, or the nature the eyes see. By making use of bright colors, VK portrayed many country landscapes and daily life scenes. But during the following years, and progressively, his paintings became avant-garde works, as he included more colors and a greater definition of contours.
Oil on cardboard. 1903.
Oil on canvas. 1904.
Temper on paper. 1904.
Oil on canvas. 1907.
Oil on cardboard. 1908.
Oil on canvas. 1908.
In his birth chart, Uranus in Cancer urges to make changes and alter traditional ways. It's the sign of those who conceive and nurture, of private and enclosed groups where people find a sense of belonging. In tune with the planet, since he had been initiated in the impressionist style in 1896, in just a few years his artworks displayed abstractions. Furthermore, Mars in the same sign tends to decline in the defense of what is considered "the own" or "traditional". From that base for action, foundations of personal imprint broadened the reach and extension of what was going through a formative process (the planet is the tail of a kite pattern towards Jupiter).
The innovation put on the first plane the invisible-abstract. It is said that VK had found inspiration in the Theosophic statements about the spiritual vision of nature. If considering impressionism, a figurative element is closer to the organic-physical matter (in a broad sense). Whereas an abstract element transcends the object's physical materiality, and is closer to the immaterial (soul-spirit). In this sense, nature as a classic impressionist motif is considered as physical-spiritual. Colors and shapes became means for vibrating in the immaterial, in the sound that corresponds to the reflected object. So the artworks transmit a vibration that is not only emotional but also acoustic. For example, red color abstracts in a physical tone, and blue in a spiritual tone, which brings to the viewer a physical-spiritual nature to be heard in material and immaterial tones.
Xilography in color. 1908.
Oil on canvas. 1908.
Oil on canvas. 1909.
Oil. 1910.
First abstract watercolor, on cardboard. 1910.
Oil on canvas. 1910.
Oil on canvas. 1911.
Oil on canvas. 1911.
Oil on canvas. 1913.
Oil on canvas. 1914.
Oil on canvas. 1919.
In his book On the Spiritual in Art (1912), he mentioned that the paintings entitled Impression were inspired by outer nature, those entitled Improvisation emerged from inner nature, and those entitled Composition were like musical works.
Throughout the years, VK made different elements play together within a same composition, without the need for synthesizing or displaying stylistic tensions (if any, they were part of the very motif the artist wanted to transmit). Then he deepened into the abstract progression by adding geometric shapes (or abstract patterns of the immaterial). To the impressionist and static representation of the natural, now of both diffuse and definite contours, he added calligraphic lines and a rational language of squares, rectangles, triangles and circles. Along with the acoustic dynamics of color on wide backgrounds and contrasts, the impressionist style of the first years was left in the past. As seen, nature was still a motif in the abstract expressionism, although not only as a translation of the visible realms but also of the invisible realms.
Oil on canvas. 1916.
Oil on canvas. 1921.
Chromolitography. 1922.
Watercolor on paper. 1923.
Watercolor on cardboard. 1923.
Oil on canvas. 1923.
Watercolor on paper. 1923.
Oil on canvas. 1925.
Oil on cardboard. 1925.
Oil on canvas. 1925.
Watercolor on paper. 1930.
Oil on canvas. 1932.
The avant-garde change was a foundational action (Mars in Cancer), a conceptual one (Mercury in Sagittarius), and a total and final spiritual initiative (Moon-Neptune in Aries), and broadened the understanding of pictorial motifs while the movement reached great expressive freedom (Jupiter in Aquarius). The mentioned planets (except Neptune) are part of a Kite pattern in the artist's chart. But the impulse for starting a change was not Martian but Uranian. This particular progression was the passage from a figurative representation of spontaneous emotional visions towards abstract geometric motifs that mostly came out from a focused and oriented intellect (Sagittarius). Uranus in Cancer had been creating such stylistic turns throughout time until they began to be displayed by his 42 years-old, when the planet transited opposed to its birth emplacement.
Later, along with the scientific developments of the 20's and 30's of the last century, VK also found inspiration in the material vision provided by the use of the microscope. Then his artworks finally included a biomorphic vocabulary. He made use of curved visions and asymmetrical shapes, sometimes in a myriad, of cellular lives. Human, animal and plant shapes were achieved with a more incarnated effect by the usage of grit and pigments. This way, the observer found a new addition: to the physical-spiritual world's geometry, he added elements from the organic nature in development, in which the lines are not straight, in which the shapes don't express symmetry. And, such as he had done before with figurative and abstract elements, the micro-lives were included in his works too, in a way that it is possible to find the small and invisible to the physical eye next to the wider, or a cell with the immense cosmos as a background.
Oil on canvas. 1926.
Oil on cardboard. 1931.
Gouache on masonite. 1932.
Watercolor and Indian ink on paper. 1933.
Oil on canvas. 1935.
Oil and grit on canvas. 1935.
Oil. 1938
Oil on canvas. 1940.
Oil and gouache on canvas. 1943.
On paper. 1944.
II. Astral patterns
Growth & expressive freedom
During several moments of his life, for example at the beginning of World War I, or after he was hired by the Soviet regime, or by the time the ideological chases of the National-Socialist German regime began (see the last item), VK moved out of the country, while some groups of affinity were dissolved and the Bauhaus was closed. Anyway, he continued to develop his activities with the impulse of a potentiated and unleashed Water-Fire Great Trine (Moon-Mercury-Mars). The reason for it was a Hammer mediated by Venus (the planet of arts) falling on the kite head in Jupiter, an astral zone where contrary experiences met each other and where the mastery seemed to be annulled, although it usually found a place later through motion and social connections (Aquarius). Mars was a dualistic planet regarding growth and expanssion, since it caused both the kite and the hammer. As the cause for the kite, it indicates favorable actions by the germination of the intellect and knowledge. But as the cause for the hammer, it indicates a drastic disinterest in progress and a devitalization channeled through sentimental relationships and the very art environment.
Before Saturn's first return, the aspectations express hardness while their shapes are developed and deplete birth karma. After the return, the planetary dynamic transcends the Sun-Moon cycle, and the energy flows without finding the limits of karma in development (or of birth shapes). The following patterns developed their potential after the first return, since VK started art studies at the age of 30 years-old.
Development of the psychics
A Hammer pattern originated in the South Node in Virgo falls upon the mystic Pisces, through a force that subtracts material wealth and life (Pluto in Taurus). In abstract terms, it's karma of a mental type that makes psychic intention not to prosper. The causes would be related to the ideational logic, the use of knowledge and the organic functioning in daily life. In concrete terms, the sensibility and psychic influence on other people would be affected, annuling the chance of eventual fusions and massive resonances (or collective empathy). In another area, Saturn, the planet of karma, provides maturation for developments, and the emplacement in Scorpio indicates an authority on the psychic and the occult. But Pisces-Saturn relation was weakened by the weight of the hammer, and it was not possible either to set a limit to the annulment actioned by Pluto. After Saturn's first return, the annulled energy followed the given path (not chaotic) to move. In the South Node-Saturn Trine, the authority became more mystic, spiritual, massive and much deeper.
The paths of the psychics
The mentioned hammer didn't just affect Saturn. A Mystic Rectangle involving Virgo-Pisces nodes, Mars and Jupiter, relates the foundation and opening of trustful groups, to spirituality and the science that studies it, to sharing and promoting all of it. The conceptual and abstract vision (Virgo) of the spiritual (Pisces) was connected to the great personal motifs of the artist, since Mars and Jupiter indicate the esoteric causes for coming into the world and staying on it. Mars in Cancer defeats the barriers of traditional ways, and works similarly to an opening action (although not without some loss). Whereas Jupiter in Aquarius expands the enthusiasm and interest for diversity, like an echo. At the age VK started his artistic development, the rectangle began to flow as such.
Formality and innovation
The liberating effect on the involved energy even impulsed innovative ways. Such as the Yod towards Uranus suggests, an oriented thought and a wide mental magnetism (Mercury-Jupiter sextile) contributed to express a dynamic, creative and stimulating tension with the abstract-spiritual axis (Uranus squares to lunar nodes from Cancer's first deanery). But as it was mentioned before, the Uranian changes were initially stopped by the weight of birth karma, since there are negative aspectactions linking the planet to the Moon and Saturn. Later, Saturn and Uranus became more intense and dynamic. But the relation between the psychic authority and the break with tradition was not just tense but problematic, and this fact remained as an astral characteristic.
III. Esoteric details
- Liquid Alchemy
Since a young age, the very time passing by processed the polar relation between the present and the karmic past, the one where the invisible realms seemed to be annulled (hammer on the South Node). In esoteric Astrology, the transmutation of luminaries is a constant process that progressively, and specifically in VK's chart, produced a greater affinity with the artistic inspiration, the spiritual spheres and the massive reach he finally achieved through his artworks. The process even neutralized his present karma, producing as a result a closer and deeper Pisces, the mystic one, and a harmonic balance with the karma of the abstract and scientific Virgo. The transmutation took him closer to the Water Element and brought to the present time previous developments of Pisces.- A great dissolvent
Moon-Neptune conjunction transforms the seeds of lunar karma and produces density not to prosper through the nodes (Virgo-Pisces). The satellite and the planet expressed soft ways, because of latency or subtlety, and created a hypnotic-dreamlike tone that reduced karma, even since the beginning of each road. Neptune in Aries, ruler of the karmic past, eased latent concentrations, and did it radically. Just some setbacks, like the lack of expansion and growth, turn the Moon (and Mercury) a bit proof to its transcendental influence. During those moments, the dissolution was expressed in the forms of dreaming and forgetting, either.- Radicality
Mars & Pluto become relevant enough to impulse a hammer and a kite (Mars), and fall upon the South Node (Pluto). Their dignities (fall and detriment, respectively) are secondary signifiers in the chart. In general terms, a focused Sagittarian Sun was both rooted and detached, another radical characteristic that would make it easier to move away from the bases, leave homeland or the country of residence more than once, and go through a series of openings and closures of artistic-laboral places.- The Hermaphrodite
The mentioned dualistic action of Mars increased and also reduced the mental magnetism (psychic vitality). By the ways of Mercury (kite) and Venus (hammer). But both planets are conjuncted, and thus they form the Hermaphrodite, or the couple that transcends the world of natural oppositions. About it, differentiating the mind from feelings, or taking some time to meditate on the relation between ideas and attachments, would have cleared out on several occasions the mutual flows inside of the conjunction, and the derivations towards the magnetism. Differentiating them would also have affected the sentimental and artistic affinity, the communication and exchange of knowledge, and the unions where it was possible to share a path of intelligence and harmony.- The dualistic Virgo
Like Mars, the sign expressed dualism, although related to Pisces: it blocked the sign (hammer) as well as favored it (sextile from Jupiter). It was karma of the present time, one of big and definite setbacks, since by blocking it, it also blocked the mystic flow, and by favoring it, produced the clash of contrary tendencies. Those tendencies involved the forces of life and death, Jupiter and Pluto, both esoteric polars that basically work by vitalizing and devitalizing, respectively. As it was mentioned in a previous item, the effects fell upon the influence through the usage of psychic energy.
IV. About the artist
- Russian painter and professor, he studied arts, laws, ethnography and economics.
- In 1896, he moved to Münich and started to study painting, where he expressed a great interest in spiritual and occult subjects as exposed by the Theosophy of those times.
- Between 1901 and 1904, he directed the group Phalanx, mainly dedicated to host artistic expositions and make artists connect each other.
- In 1904, he founded his own art school.
- In 1909, he joined the New Association of Artists of Münich until 1911, the year when, along with Franz Marc, Gustav Klimt and Arnold Shönberg, he founded the group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider).
- Between 1909 and 1914, he wrote four theater plays whose scenes related music, colors, light and motion. Without a linear narrative, they were The Yellow Sound, The Green Sound, Black and White, and Violet.
- In 1911, he wrote the book On the Spiritual in Art, where he mostly described painting and music as spiritual expressions corresponding to each other. To his friend Shönberg, musician and painter, he once wrote "The way you compose, I want to paint".
- In 1913, he wrote his memories, entitled Retrospective.
- A year later, due to the outbreak of World War I, The Blue Rider was dissolved. In 1916, he returned to Moscow, where he was employed by the Soviet regime to develop cultural activities. But some tensions with the regime made him return to Germany in 1922.
- Between 1922 and 1933, he taught as a professor at the various headquarters of the Bauhaus.
- In 1924, thirteen years after The Blue Rider was formed, a new group was born, Die Blaue Vier (The Four Blues), along with Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee and Alekséi von Jawlensky.
- Two years later, he wrote the book Point and line on the plane, now as a professor of the Bauhaus. But due to ideological chases, the school was closed and VK moved to France, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died in December 1944.
Sources: Vasili Kandinski, Kandinsky Wassily, El Sonido Amarillo, Leicester's German Expressionist Collection, Wassily Kandinsky, el Maestro del Arte Abstracto (Documental on Youtube).
Paintings: Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain.
