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| Piet Mondrian, March 7 1872. |
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 their eyes of a Pisces, 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 |
Here is Renoir, gazing away, into the distance. This portrait it 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.
