The Alchemist's Voice
Selected Quotes & Reflections
Johfra Bosschart was not only a visual artist but a prolific writer and introspective thinker. His legacy includes nearly 6,000 pages of diary entries spanning sixty years (1938–1998), as well as published books on astrology and his own autobiography, Symphonie Fantastique.
Below is a curated collection of his reflections on art, symbolism, the occult, and the human condition, grounded in his private journals and published works.
On The Nature of Symbols
From his book "Astrology: The Signs of the Zodiac" (1981)
"The deepest truths can only be approached through myths and symbols. They cannot even be conveyed through exegesis or philosophical treatise. The Truth can only be hinted at and, even then, can only be recognized by those who already know it."
"A symbol is never absolute and objective. It is open to various interpretations. It takes on different shades of meaning according to the individual. It is subjective and adapts itself to a particular situation. It is like a mirror that, while remaining itself, constantly displays different images, depending on the person who looks in it."
"A symbolist is above all a poet, just as all poets are free symbolists because they too work with hints and indications."
On His Artistic Identity
Johfra resisted simple categorization, eventually rejecting the "Surrealist" label in favor of a more nuanced definition.
"Surrealism based on studies of psychology, religion, the Bible, astrology, antiquity, magic, witchcraft, mythology and occultism."
"So many people tried to label me and tried to place me in a certain corner. One writer who made an excellent biography about me, wrote in his book that I was a 'Gnostic teacher who wanted to purchase and convince pupils through my painting! I just wanted to make some things clear. Who knows more about me than myself?"
The Salvador Dalí Encounter
Johfra visited Salvador Dalí in Port Lligat on August 7, 1959. His diary entry from that day reveals a profound disillusionment with the "theater" of the surrealist master, though he later softened his view.
The 1959 Reaction (Immediate)
"This visit leaves us with a storm of conflicting thoughts and feelings. I found him repulsive and likable and tragic. A friar who is forced to be the figure he created himself. A victim of the world of which he is the jester, and of himself by his boundless vanity, making it impossible for him to break with this situation. What I totally missed was every trace of joy and humor."
The 1998 Reflection (Retrospective)
"Now I think completely different about this person, more nuanced... Like Leonardo da Vinci (who was recognized as 'divine' by Dalí), Dalí acted on me in a formative manner. He has fascinated me very much, but was also very often disappointing and annoying, which has never been the case with Leonardo, who is my spiritual father."
On The Creative Process & Destruction
On March 3, 1945, an Allied bombing raid destroyed his family home and 400 of his early works.
"[I felt] a liberation. All the lost work with the many shortcomings will no longer stare at me. I can start all over again."
On The Muse: Ellen Lórien
"Ellen is the driving force and inspiration of our community. She protects me from inner chaos. She takes care of business contacts, because in a practical sense I am no match for the hard society. Without her I would have been lonely for a long time and may now be painting in an Amsterdam attic."
On The Practice of Journaling
Johfra kept a meticulous diary from September 24, 1938, until his death in 1998.
"Describing life in a diary can be an important aid to live more intense, to absorb completely in the moment and to assimilate it till the end. Describing our experience is like reviving it. In this way we can live twice."
On "The Songs of Maldoror"
Regarding his dark and grotesque series based on the Comte de Lautréamont's poem.
"I have read The Songs of Maldoror... This book is the source of surrealism. Not André Breton but De Lautréamont is the inventor of surrealism. The images and especially the style of writing by Salvador Dalí are entirely taken from this book, as well as his attitude and mentality."