Arshile Gorky

One of my favorite portraits of all time is the one that Arshile Gorky painted from a black and white photograph of himself and his mother. There are two of these paintings, actually, along with some drawings. They are both elegant and warm and full of love and sorrow. As a viewer I can feel that each line and shape and color was picked after much deliberation. The expressions on the faces is absolutely haunting. Gorky's Mother died of starvation in the Armenian Genocide in 1919 and he immigrated to the U.S. with his Sister to be with his father in 1920. Gorky began painting both these portraits in 1926 and worked on one for 10 years and the other until 1942. It certainly seems that this was a way for him to keep his mother in his life.

In 1926, Gorky's prog. Venus (women, art) was on the last degree of Aries, trining Uranus and sextiling Neptune. It then progressed into its own sign of Taurus. I can see how that would be a great set-up for starting a major life project especially through art. T. Jupiter was conjunct natal Saturn and opposing natal Neptune in Leo. That shows more of a serious attitude toward creating a life plan, Neptune in Leo would be great for an artistic or risky type of business. He was going through a Uranus square which also involved the Nodal axis and was moving into conjunction with natal Venus. And, of course, Gorky was one of the great innovators in Abstraction of the 20th century. Portrait painting wasn't his main subject matter.

My initial goal for this exercise was to try to understand the astrological transits behind a really great portrait. (That's of course impossible but I just wanted to check it, okay? So chill.)

Arshile Gorky
b. Apr. 15, 1904 Khorkom, Turkey

Sun 26 Aries; Moon probably in Aries; North Node 28 Virgo

First off, I'm interested in seeing that a Double Aries is responsible for painting a Portrait. Aries is the side of the Aries-Libra relationship pole which "does its own thing" and doesn't think about "The Other." That's Libra's job and one would expect a strong showing of Libra in a portrait painter's chart. Aries is the "I" in the "I-Thou" theories. Yet, Goya was an Aries and he was also one of the great Portrait Painters. So was Van Dyck. And of course you can really see the Aries struggle to perceive 'The Other" in Vincent Van Gogh's portraits. In Art, the biggest struggles are often what leads to the biggest successes whereas in relationships they often lead to divorce. So, this is something to ponder, maybe someday look for an answer. When I try to think of famous Libra painters I can only think of Bonnard who painted interiors and landscapes and nudes.

Moon rules the Mother, and since there is no birth time (the birth date might actually not be accurate) we don't have an exact position for the Moon. Gorky's Venus and Jupiter were also in Aries, and the combination of both female planets in this sign shows that women (Venus,Moon) came first (Aries) for him. Moon in Aries is also a sign that shows rash emotions and extreme, raw feelings. Highly creative, intuitive, but can also be selfish, acting on one's own impulses without considering the needs of others. So, you know, it's your basic artist genius type.

Gorky's chart was bowl shaped, bounded by an out of sign opposition of Uranus in Sagittarius and Neptune in Cancer. Bob Marks gives a great description of bowl shape personalities (www.bobmarksastrologer.com). This seems like a good aspect for a portrait painter as it creates a need for a person to look outside of himself for answers. Maybe creates a need and an emotional bond to a sitter. This opposition of Jupiter and Uranus expands out into an out-of-sign Grand Square involving his Virgo-Pisces Nodal Axis and very close to the Aries Points and Venus 3 Aries-SN. Grand Square people, as I've mentioned before usually have a lot of energy to deal with problems which is great because a lot seems to happen to them. In addition, Saturn and Pluto are in trine aspect which even in the trine can show a weightiness and seriousness to a person's outlook.

Mars at 7 Taurus is conjunct Mercury at 14 Taurus. Taurus is one of the signs that indicates artistic talent. Mars is dispositor for all the Aries planets. Mercury's progression follows Gorky's career in that it went Retrograde by Progression the year after he moved to America and turned out of retrograde in 1944 when his life literally began to fall apart. Over a few years, a fire destroyed his studio, he got cancer, he broke his neck in a car crash, his arm was paralyzed, and his wife had an affair with a good friend and then left him (and the friend). He is said to have wailed in pain all night on Isamu Noguchi's doorstep. Gorky hanged himself in July, 1948. T. Jupiter and Uranus were opposing each other and aspecting his natal Grand Square. So, he was going through a very difficult Uranus opposition. T.Neptune was just moving out of orb with this Grand Square (his life literally dissolved). Also both t.Saturn and t.Pluto were within orb of opposing natal Saturn, a major depressor. Progressed Sun and Progressed Mars had been traveling in conjunction in Gemini for a long time and the conjunction was exact when Gorky committed suicide. The T.North Node was inbetween conjunction with Mercury and Mars. These are the dispositors of his Sun and natal North Node.