The Dutch artist Karel Appel,  died at the age of 85, famously declared that “If I paint like a barbarian, it’s because we live in a barbarous age” – the sentiment of a man who had reached adulthood at the beginning of the second world war. Yet, like other members of that shortlived but celebrated movement of radical artists and intellectuals, the Cobra group, he absorbed a variety of intellectual and artistic influences, out of which developed a frenetic style of sweeping brushstrokes and vibrant, even lurid, colours. uie Cobra was an acronym of “Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam”, reflecting the origins…

This year we are inaugurating our Mystery Person Chart. You need to tell us what this man did that made him notable, if at least during his lifetime. He was born in 1848. The Chart is given in Koch Format with all the asteroids and the TransNeptunians but no aspects, time or place. Please write on the blog what you think he did and where in his horoscope this is borne out.  The header picture has nothing to do with him. Right now, winners get glory, but probably also one book from the Marc Jones’ oeuvre if interested. After you win,…