Emil Nolde

As the Sun is Shining in Leo right now and I want to celebrate a few Leos because, of course, they are Magnificent. Leo likes a Beginning, and a Middle and an Ending because that creates Drama. Leo likes spectacle so often it has been relegated to pop or folk music. And they have an incredible sense of play and warmth (and orneriness) which I think is missing from modern art. But, back in the day...well, think of Picasso who had Leo Rising. He produced huge amounts of work often trying to emulate the innocence of children in his art.

Emil Nolde is one of my favorite German Expressionist artists. He was your basic Bold Leo. He sort of took the idea of expressiveness to the max with wild brush strokes, heavy paint, loud colors, everyone and everything in his paintings looked like a hooker. There was no sense of order especially in the early oils, or spatial depth or perspective in his paintings. His figures are dancing around naked and in your face, as avant-garde and progressive as one could have created. I'm sorry that I still don't know how to add pictures. If so inclined, please google "Nolde landscapes."

Nolde studied art from 1884-1891 and was part of the group called Die Brucke (The Bridge) from 1906-1907. He was successful and well-received until the Nazis held their famous "Degenerate Art Exhibit" in 1937 and denounced his paintings among with many other artists like Kandinsky and Klee. In 1941, the Nazis literally forbade Nolde to paint. Asking a Leo to quit expressing himself. Hah! He gave up Oil Paints because the smell would give him away and spent most of the rest of his life painting Watercolors, many of which he called "Unpainted pictures." Much of the subject matter changed to still lifes, florals and landscapes. He reduces the subject matter to a few simple forms of the most amazing color you've ever seen. In order to get the colors intense enough he used very absorbent Japanese papers and applied the paint to both front and back of the painting.

Emil Nolde
b. Aug. 7, 1867 North Schleswig, near Nolde, Germany

Sun 15 Leo; Moon Scorpio; NN 15 Virgo

There's a trick to studying Nolde. His personality was a little complicated. Although he was very progressive and avant-garde in his artistic talents he belonged to the Nazi party right from the start and agreed to the extermination of the Jews. Even after he was banned and was hiding out in his little room, he thought this was a good idea. I guess one can see this in his chart. There are no planets in Air so he maybe lacked distance in his judgments. His Moon was in Scorpio, maybe involved in a very harsh t-square in conjunction with Saturn 18 Scorpio opposite Pluto 17 Taurus squaring Sun in Leo at the apex. One can see through his paintings how in touch he was with brutality, creativity and rawness, sensuality and sexuality. The empty leg of this t-square is Aquarius and in Nolde's chart Uranus is emphasized as his only out-of-bounds planet. The innovation and rebelliousness of Aquarius without the feeling for brotherhood? Sometimes one does see this in a difficult Aquarius aspect that will tend more towards conformism than the brotherly love that can accept others' differences.

Otherwise, his artistic talent is shown through his Sun-Mercury-Chiron-Venus in Leo stellium with Artistic signature Sun trine Neptune (15 Aries). And his Uranus 11 Cancer is in aspect to both Jupiter 5 Pisces (trine) and Neptune (square) which explains the lighter vibe of his paintings and the interest in social gatherings as subject matter.

In 1937, Nolde's t-square was hit hard. T.Uranus reached natal Pluto while his Progressed Mercury hit his natal Saturn. This, of course, squares his Sun. He was seen as the vulgar Revolutionary who was to be oppressed by the uprising Government. Saturn and Pluto combo's are the first to go as creators of evil. It's just strange Saturn-Pluto stuff that he was being punished for what he did right rather than what he did wrong. With progressed Mercury opposite Uranus he was going to paint his own truth no matter what anyone said.

In addition, T. Pluto hit his natal Leo stellium, so it was conjunct Venus at 2 Leo and would continue to pass over his Mercury and then Sun. People who are good at making changes can just go with the Pluto flow. Fixed Signs simply must transform. T. Neptune was moving into conjunction with Nolde's North Node in Virgo, so he would have just begun to find his true expression.

In 1940 this Neptune-Node aspect was exact and conjunct natal Mars in Virgo as well.

In 1941, Chiron had joined t. Pluto in the middle of his Leo Stellium. And Uranus had moved off of his n. Pluto but Saturn was just then passing over it. So his Saturn-Pluto was amplified. He had a Nodal Return along with a conjunction from Neptune to his natal Virgo North Node. And, well, as Neptune rules a Water Sign and Virgo prefers a more graphic medium, I guess it was a good time to switch to Watercolors.

At the end of the War, Nolde's progressed Sun moved into Scorpio. T.NN and Saturn were both conjunct his natal Uranus. My understanding is that he continued on after the war as a successful artist until his death. But there is still this lingering feeling of shame (Saturn-Pluto) surrounding his works because of his links with the Nazis. I think the Chinese have a proverb for it: "May you never live in interesting times."