Pisces Self Portraits
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| Piet Mondrian, March 7 1872. |
It’s Pisces, so the eyes have it.
Those born under the sign of the fishes are supposed to be blessed with a beautiful liquid gaze. I have to say that the two people I’ve known with truly extraordinarily beautiful eyes – one woman with eyes as luminous and velvety as a starry night and one with eyes as deep and blue as the Aegean – were both Pisces.
But I’ve known far more Pisces with quite ordinary eyes – nice enough, beautiful even but not spectacular. It’s not the look of the eyes, it’s effect of the eyes. Like all things, Pisces, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about Pisces’ eyes, but I’ve noticed quite often there are two types.
With some Pisces – and by this I mean those with Pisces Ascendant, strong Pisces or Neptune on the Ascendant – once you start to look into the eyes, you find that there is greater and greater depth. You find there are worlds there. You could drown in those eyes.
Then there’s the other kind of Pisces – the eyes are hidden behind sunglasses, or the gaze averted. Are they somehow aware that their look might drown you?
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| Pierre Auguste Renoir, 25 February 1841 |
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| Michelangelo, March 6 1475 |
There is Piet Mondrian, he of the strict rectinlinear abstractions. Did he need to be so structured to control his Piscean lack of boundaries?
Here is Renoir, gazing away, into the distance. This portrait is dashed out so quickly, you can almost feel the the rhythm of the brush.
And here is Michelangelo, with eyes that hide secrets. But this “self-portrait” is likely by another hand anyway.
Balthus – you can hardly see his eyes. Strange for a self-portrait. He’s painted his jacket and the wall behind beautifully.
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| Balthus, February 29, 1908. |
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| Eric Gill, Feb 22, 1882 |
And here’s another odd one – Eric Gill – the sculptor and type designer. He’s done a portrait of himself in profile. His gaze is entirely averted. Why is he hiding from his own eyes?
That’s a stone mason’s paper hat he’s wearing I think.
Michelangelo’s eyes are sad. Sad because of knowledge.
Knowledge is one of putting it! I would say his eyes show the sadness of experience and the weariness of life lived in the highest emotional state……
Yes, he looks tired to his very soul.
Yes, the ‘highest emotional state’, sometimes known as catatonia, thanks to the constant and unhindered inpouring of all the available sensory data into our fragile craniums. That’s what gives us that apparently blissed out 100-foot stare. It’s great being a Pisces.
Yes, the ‘highest emotional state’, sometimes known as catatonia, thanks to the constant and unhindered inpouring of all the available sensory data into our fragile craniums. That’s what gives us that apparently blissed out 100-foot stare. It’s great being a Pisces.
Eric Gill is wearing a printer’s hat, sometimes worn by typesetters … I worked in a type house (in the olden days, before computerized typesetting!), and sometimes the linotype operators would make the hats for fun. They were made from folded newspapers. (Here’s a tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEnYmWVTJ4Y … ) Incidentally, I share Gill’s birthday, Feb 22.
I’m a Pisces girl and I always find men starring into my eyes without looking away… And then I feel all awkward and just leave because it’s creepy AF.