Original painting - Mixed Media on Canvas - 252mmX305mm -  Framed

This artwork has been selected for and exhibited at The Gallery in Kenilworth as part of their January 2017 Exhibition. 

Goldfish in Feng Shui are seen to be creators of good luck and positive outcomes in new endeavours and in particular matters of business. In Chinese the word “yu” can mean fish but also means success. So keeping fish or having an ornament or product with a fish or goldfish on it in the Feng Shui tradition is a means of attracting prosperity.

As a goldfish is also beautiful it is also seen to bless us and our environment with beauty through its colours. The fish brings the natural world (through being an animal and living in water) into our home or work environment. Dragons in Feng Shui and Chinese culture represent luck, wisdom and power and goldfish are often seen to represent baby dragons. So in that way they also bring luck. (Source)

To fully appreciate the symbolic meanings of fish, we must first consider their watery domain. Water holds ancient symbolic meanings dealing with the subconscious and depth of knowledge. Water contains all the mysteriousness of the unknown.

As an ancient Celtic symbol, the symbolic meaning of fish (salmon, specifically) dealt with knowledge, wisdom, inspiration and prophecy. Ancient Celts believed the salmon derived its wisdom from consuming the sacred hazel nuts from the well of knowledge (Segais). Further, they believed to eat the salmon would mean gaining the wisdom of the well too.

In Norse and ancient European cultures, the fish had symbolic meanings of adaptability, determination, and the flow of life. It was observed by these cultures that fish often display enormous attributes of adaptability in the wild, and they adopted these characteristics for themselves. Salmon were commonly revered for their determination in their annual pilgrimage to their spawning grounds – the entire journey swum against the current. (Source)