Best/highest selling artists

[Arena]

Today I'm pondering on horoscopes of the best / highest selling artists living today.

Two examples stand out. Almost everybody in the world know them or have heard of them, even though they're not particularly following or interested in art. They both sell art at insane prices and are world wide known. What I find very interesting is to look at their charts only from aspects and benefics and not knowing their angles.

Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.

Jeff Koons, born on Jan 21st 1955 in York, PA, USA (time unknown)
Jupiter-Uranus conjunction is a wider opposition to his Sun and Neptune is square to both. That Neptune is not under influences from malefics, so it can be seen as a creative aspect. He potentially has his Moon conjunct his Nnode.

Damien Hirst, born on June 7th 1965 in Bristol, UK (time unknown).
Even though we don't know his angles, his chart does reveal something very interesting.
He has his Sun conjunct his Nnode which is associated with fame or having a relationship with the public, shining in the world. Not only is his Sun conjunct the Nnode, but also his Jup-Mer conjunction. His Jup-Mer is also partile square Uranus which is also associated with fame or huge outreach, his Sun is aspected by Uranus as well, although wider. He has a wider (ecliptic) Jup-Pluto, Mer-Pluto and Sun-Pluto square which are associated with big/huge business. Jup-Pluto with huge money and powerful connections and having Mer in the picture makes it into an even more of a business success.

[SteveS]

Excellent symbolism Arena---wish we had their AA times.

[Jim Eshelman]

Hirst's chart is a crazy pile-up of aspects.

This is interesting to me mostly because I finished my "special inquiries" chapter on wealth and prosperity a couple of months ago. For most of that sort of analysis, it seems clear that we need timed births. Nonetheless, going with what we have, here is the summary at the end:

1. Jupiter (luck), Saturn (persistence, prudence), and Mars (competition) are primary indicators of money matters.
2. Jupiter and Saturn’s balance addresses this directly: Jupiter favors getting (opportunity, entitlement, spending). Saturn favors keeping (earning, producing, saving). Jupiter vs. Saturn is luck vs. labor.
3. Mars equates money with competition and power. Angular or in strong luminary aspect: competitive success, often with significant income even absent Jupiter or Saturn. Mars’ cosmic state shows desire and prospects for power and competition.
4. Jupiter’s aspects suggest sources of income or wealth.
5. Mercury strong (especially angular or conjunct Sun): Business knack, a natural for commerce, handles business part of any career well.
6. Venus-Saturn and Jupiter-Pluto aspects: unusually common for extreme wealth.
7. 2nd and 8th Houses have narrow importance. If occupied, they reflect how much of the psyche is invested in own vs. relinquish themes and how one regards these.

We're limited in how much we can apply this to untimed charts. Something as basic as the intensity of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars (and, secondarily, Mercury) relies heavily on their angularity. Nonetheless, beginning with Jeff Koons, we have at least Jupiter and Saturnleanings with Capricorn-Sagittarius luminaries (which, by itself, seems a luminary combination biased toward ambition and success). For any time of day he has a reasonably close Moon-Mars square, which is the single strongest success from competition marker in the untimed chart and may, almost alone, show his commercial success. - Without a time, we don't know how strong his fundamental power and competition drive is, but I imagine for a Capricorn-Sagittarius with Moon closely square Mars, it's pretty strong!

Nothing in this untimed chart suggests Mercury is strong. I skip it and move on...

Ecliptically, he has neither the hallmark uber-wealth Venus-Saturn nor Jupiter-Pluto aspects. (We can't tell what happens mundanely.)

That leaves Jupiter aspects to suggest sources of income or wealth. Just as a test, here is what I wrote in the chapter for each of his:

• Jupiter-Uranus conj (close): Success through unlikely paths and surprising luck. Innovation, leading the pack on forward-leaning ideas (including technology). Not as much great wealth (except celebrities, of course, and Warren Buffet).
• Sun-Jupiter opp (moderate): A mix of luck and being very good at what they do. Creating (innovating) something that succeeds. Most end up far better off financially than they started (though many inherited).
• Jupiter-Neptune sq (moderate): Famous wealth (Getty, Morgan, Rhodes, Hefner) or breakout success in film and entertainment (including wine and sex). Royal and celebrity inheritance. However, impractical relationship to money (easily fooled, indulgence, drawn to “too good to be true” or dreams independent of feasibility).
• Jupiter-Saturn trine (moderate): Success through patient industry (work for it and earn it). May create a product and sell it well (for entertainers, the product is themselves). Sensible with finances. Traditionally thought profitable through real estate.

Turning to Hirst, again we have a hard time judging the pivotal Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars factors without a time. Jupiter doesn't have core strength except from a wider conjunction with Sun. Saturn is there, though, with a partile Sun-Saturn square, so he's likely to keep what he gets (and willing to work hard). Similarly, a moderate Sun-Mars square: So, altogether (without a birth time) I'd guess his success comes from labor more than luck - working ferociously and nonstop - and not being a complete idiot about the business side (moderate Sun-Mercury). - So far, the chart follows the old fashioned idea that if you work hard enough, you have the best chance to succeed

He also has Jupiter-Pluto square, so he's in the "club" of people who go through wide swings on prosperity, one outcome of which is acquiring extreme wealth. We don't know if there is a Venus-Saturn mundane aspect to cement this further.

Regarding Jupiter aspects for expected sources of income or wealth:

[*]Jupiter-Uranus conj (partile): Success through unlikely paths and surprising luck. Innovation, leading the pack on forward-leaning ideas (including technology). Not as much great wealth (except celebrities, of course, and Warren Buffet).
[*]Mercury-Jupiter conj (partile): Success from doing something very well (plus luck). Always looking for the next opportunity or lucky break. More writers and academics than other aspect groups, but not most examples (the range is far wider).
[*]Jupiter-Pluto sq (moderate): A mix of those who had wealth handed to them and those that worked for it (including many inheritance examples). May signal outlier acquired wealth, though prosperity may fluctuate widely (it may long endure; others have success collapse once attained.)
[*]Sun-Jupiter conj (moderate): A mix of luck and being very good at what they do. Creating (innovating) something that succeeds. Most end up far better off financially than they started (though many inherited).

The Mercury-Pluto is two-edged: In a study I haven't written up yet, it was one of the most common aspects for celebrities who lost nearly everything. In most cases it was from financial mismanagement (usually having someone else mismanage their funds) - overall, from insufficient attention to their finances. I expect this less from this person due to the Sun-Saturn square.

For the record, I'm one of the (apparently few) people on Earth who has never heard of either of these men. I don't know a thing about them except what you wrote.

[Arena]

Thanks for looking into this. I find it interesting to look into very successful artists alive today.... but I also find it very interesting to look into charts of artists and famous people who seem to transcend and live beyond their physical life/appearance. One of my favourites in visual arts is Wassily Kandinsky. He was a true pioneer in art and was part of a movement (Bauhaus) that managed to change the course of the artworld. They changed the artworld from only creating realism into creating all kinds of abstract work, playing with colours in a brand new way and exploring geometric artforms in a brand new way. His art sells for millions of dollars today at the most prestigeous auction houses in the world.

Kandinsky is born on Dec 16th 1866 at in Moscow, Russia. Wikipedia says o.s. timing is Dec 4th. Astrotheme.com has his birth time as 5.58 AM. If that birth time is accurate he would have had his n. Sun partile conj his EP and the Nnode is widely conjunct the MC.

He moved to Munich, Germany and was a huge influence on the Bauhaus art movement when he resided there and taught at university. He may have lived in more cities in Germany since he was part of the Bauhaus movement. The only planet showing up near his angles in Germany is Pluto ecliptically. Since the relocated chart is not revealing this great success he had during the Bauhaus period from 1922-1933 when he taught in Germany I decided to look into his solar arcs and progressions. They reveal something very interesting to me. He was a very influential painter during those years in Germany before he moved to France where Pluto is angular and Jupiter square his angles. The solar arcs show me that in 1922 his d. Nnode has reached his ASC and d. Mc passes his Saturn while d. Jup has just passed his Snode. D. Mars is also in the picture during this important period as well as his d. Sun squaring his ASC (although he is born with his Sun on EP, so it's already there for fame/spotlight). In 1927-9 his d. Jup conjuncts the Moon and his d. DSC passes by his Mars. He then comes into a great period in his life and artistic creations when the solar arcs are showing d. Jup come to his Neptune and his d. Nep opp his Venus, his d. ASC comes to his Jup and his d. Venus squares his ASC.

Now I don't know if there is anything to a "death chart" that has meaning into how far beyond life people actually live and become historical icons. Well he did. What I notice in this period of his death (Dec 13th 1944) his d. Nnode is partile his Venus, d. Mer partile sq his ASC, d. Moon partile opp his Sun and d. Pluto partile opp. his Jupiter. I find that of interest.

From 1933 to 1944 he lived in Neuilly-sur-Seine, around Paris in France and created some of his most prominent art.

A remarkable artist. Pioneering, innovative, productive and we have some GREAT art by him in today's world.

I don't particularly like his earlier work, but I simply adore his last two decades of artwork and am very inspired by it. He has had an impact on me like no other artist. Not only do I sincerely feel his impact and inspiration, I actually feel connected to him somehow. I don't know how to explain that though. So I decided to check out his planets/chart and if they somehow interact with my natal chart. Yes it does. His Nodes are partile square my Ven-Jup opposition. His Sun is widely on my Jup-Ven aspect. His Venus is partile opp my Saturn and his Saturn is partile opp my Moon and his Nep is partile trine my Sun.

I decided to also check his directed chart to the moment I was born. Yes it impacts mine.
D. Sun partile trine my n. Sun.
D. Jup partile my Moon.
D. Nep partile my Snode.
D. Pluto within 3° sq my Nep.

IF my bt. is slightly earlier than recorded bt. as I suspect it may be, then his d. Ven is partile sq. my n. ASC and his d. Nnode partile my MC.

[Jim Eshelman]

A Sagittarius-Pisces who trained as a lawyer and seems most often characterized by the words mystic and abstraction - wow, what a fit! (And if that birth time is at least approximately correct, his Pisces Moon is closely square Uranus.)

The time is based on a chart my old friend Marion March found in biographies - from a chart found in his papers - and reconstructed back to 5:58 AM. This sounds like it has a good chance of being accurate EXCEPT it's calculated as if December 4 were a Gregorian date, so the actual chart was wrong either way. (But it might have been an honest effort using a birth time known to him.)

It's rare for a double Spoke to have broad impact long beyond their years, so the angular Sun is attractive as a rounding out of that. On the other hand, I have nearly a hundred double Spokes i my ~1,000 eminent person sample chart catalogue, and they include people of such enduring impact as Alan Turing, Vivekananda, Swinburne, Baudelaire, Haydn, Puccini, Newton, John Lennon, Stephen Foster, and others that will likely join their number in the arts and sciences. Perhaps their charts could be studied to see what "enduring" factor they have in common. The only Sagittarius-Pisces examples on that list are curiously all women and are quite a mixed set: Heidi Fleiss, Kay Francis, Mother Meera, Patti Smith, and Simone de Beauvoir.