Paul Gauguin, the French artist renowned for his Tahitian paintings has had his image restored in a new book, based on recently discovered material. Condemned until recently as a French colonialist who spread syphilis to underage girls in the South Seas, it now emerges he never suffered from the disease and was much revered in Polynesia both by the girls he married and the local community for his fight against the corrupt French authorities.
He was born 7 June 1848 10 am Paris, amidst the tumult of Europe’s revolutionary year but was brought up in Peru where his journalist father (later imprisoned for the attempted murder of his mother) took the family. Back in France Gauguin began his career in banking and started painting in his spare time, mentored by Pissarro. When he was in his thirties he moved to Tahiti, then a French colony. During his time there he controversially married three adolescent Tahitian girls with whom he later fathered children.
Doctors have concluded his health problems did not stem from syphilis, but from eczema and erysipelas, aggravated by infected bites of the Simulium buissoni fly.
He had a strong belief in equality between the sexes, much influenced by a grandmother who was a fierce fighter for women’s rights and much admired by Karl Marx. Gauguin cherished her writings and actively encouraged the women in his circle, including his wife, to find fulfilment through independence.
He fell foul of the French authorities after he exposed the corruption and injustice of local French officials and pleaded for fairer taxation and treatment for the Indigenous people. He was sentenced to three months in prison on a charge which on re-examination proved his accusations to be correct but only a few months after his death.
He had a 10th house Gemini Sun square Saturn in Pisces on the cusp of his 8th – perhaps a hint of a strong grandmother. His 10th house creative Venus in Gemini was square a Virgo Moon (on his late Leo Ascendant) opposition Neptune in his 7th. His relationship to women/mother was idealized, confused and the choice of younger partners/brides though normal for the times would also be driven by his Moon Venus = the sexualized mother. The revolutionary year of his birth with its Uranus Pluto in Aries was square Mars in Leo and Jupiter in Cancer – so he would be inclined to fight against authority figures. It also describes an explosive father.
Relocating his chart to Polynesia puts the Sun on his IC, so very much where he felt at home; though a 6th house Moon hinted that it might be less helpful on the health front.
Add On: Gauguin had a brief but famously ‘intense and turbulent friendship’ with Vincent van Gogh, which ended with the mentally unstable Van Gogh cutting off his ear as an over-reaction to being abandoned by his idol and mentor. Although they went in different directions they continued to write each other letters up to van Gogh’s suicide in an insane asylum at age 39.
Van Gogh, 30 March 1853 11am Zundert, Netherlands, had an exceptionally bunched chart with seven planets in his career 10th house. They ranged from an overly-excitable Mars Venus conjunction in Pisces which squared onto Jupiter Moon in Sagittarius opposition North Node in a hurricane-force Mutable T square. Plus an early degree Aries Sun and a later degree Mercury in Aries in a mentally over-loaded conjunction to Pluto which was conjunct Uranus. Although five years younger than Gauguin he was also marked by the revolutionary, status-quo-upending Uranus Pluto conjunction.
Van Gogh’s Pluto was square Gauguin’s afflicted Mars in Leo so it was never going to end well. Gauguin’s Saturn in Pisces was also conjunct Van Gogh’s hyper-active Mars Venus in Pisces for another friction point.
When the ear-cutting incident occurred as Gauguin left Arles, Van Gogh’s Solar Arc Mars was less than a degree over the conjunction to his Pluto for extreme frustration and rage; his Solar Arc Saturn was in a depressed opposition to his Moon; tr Neptune in Gemini was in a confused conjunction to his SA Mercury – and he was one his Jupiter Return.
Artists always r outcasts and revered at times centuries after their death by society…society fears what doesn’t fit in its boxes and to hide that fear, brandishes one as insane…in poor countries , I have seen women just objecting to adultery dumped in insane asylums till death, mostly of politiicans and reputed men of society despite having psychiatrist daughters in rich continents, they r outcastes.
Uranus is futuristic so present generations cannot understand it and hence label it as mad to hide their incompetence and with uranus pluto..it gets explosive…
It’s impossible to fight and convince society honestly but dishonesty for public is not in all artists except actors.
Somethings defeat Time like social acceptance of different
I was raised by an artist mother who revered Gauguin, wouldn’t hear a bad word about him. Haha, her Sun is exactly opposite his Venus. Now Gauguin’s Saturn returns to its original location and his image is rehabilitated? I have to read this book.
A wonderful post. I had forgotten the link between the 8th house and grandparents. I had strong grandmothers who have led tragic but very positive lives, both models of feminist resilience. One grandfather was a good and kind man entrusted for decades as treasurer of his bus drivers’ union for his integrity. A great-grandafather played a pivotal role in Canadian history as a member of Parliament in the 1920s. Both sides of the family were strong defenders of French-language rights in Ottawa. My father left me a legacy of compassion for indigenous peoples. As a lawyer, one group of natives showed up in my office with a family tree that included my own French ancestors in the 17th century.
I have a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in the 8th, par of a water grand trine, as well as Pluto. Pluto is square Saturn in Scorpio conjunct Black Moon Lilith.
Somehow , with all the drama in his life , I would think moon in Leo would fit better. Also it would be interesting to compare to Van Gogh . They had a very fiery relationship.
A very different personality as had been portrayed in the 1956 movie “Lust for Life”.