Psychoanalysis and Art,Freud and Leonardo

Abstract

Freud was the first to apply psychoanalysis to art, choosing for his subject the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. Observing Leonardo's partly fused image of the Virgin and St. Anne, he inferred that the artist had depicted his two mothers, his biological mother and his stepmother. This very early analytic discourse on parent loss and adoption changed the course of the interpretation of art. Freud explored the psychology of art, the artist, and aesthetic appreciation. Confronting the age-old enigma of the Mona Lisa, he proposed a daring solution to the riddle of the sphinxlike smile of this icon of art. His paper prefigures concepts of narcissism, homosexuality, parenting, and sublimation. Lacking modern methodology and theory, Freud's pioneering insights overshadow his naive errors. In this fledgling inquiry, based on a childhood screen memory and limited knowledge of Leonardo's artistic and scientific contributions, Freud identified with this Renaissance genius in his own self-analytic and creative endeavor.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adams, L. (1993). Art and Psychoanalysis. New York: Harper Collins.

Barande, I. (1977). Le maternal singulier: Freud et Leonard de Vinci . Paris: Aubier Montaigne.

Blum, H. (1977). The prototype of preoedipal reconstruction. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 25:757—785.

——— (1991). Freud and the figure of Moses: The Moses of Freud . Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 39:513—536.

——— (1994). Reconstruction in Psychoanalysis: Childhood Revisited and Recreated. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.

Bramly, S. (1991). Leonardo: Discovering the Life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Harper Collins .

Collins, B. (1997). Leonardo, Psychoanalysis and Art History. Evanston: Northwestern University Press .

Coltrera, J. (1965). On the creation of beauty and thought. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 13:634—703.

Eissler, K. (1961). Leonardo da Vinci: Psychoanalytic Notes on the Enigma. New York: International Universities Press.

10.

Elms, A. (1988). Freud as Leonardo: Why the first psychobiography went wrong. Journal of Personality 56:19—40.

11.

Freud, S. (1905a). Jokes and their relation to the unconscious. Standard Edition 8:9—236.

12.

——— (1905b). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Standard Edition 7:130—243.

13.

——— (1910a). Leonardo da Vinci and a memory of his childhood . Standard Edition 11:59—137.

14.

——— (1910b). The psycho-analytic view of psychogenic disturbance of vision. Standard Edition 11:211—218.

15.

——— (1910c). A special type of choice of object made by men . Standard Edition 11:165—175.

16.

——— (1910d). “Wild” psycho-analysis. Standard Edition 11:221—227.

17.

——— (1914). The Moses of Michelangelo. Standard Edition 13:211—236.

18.

——— (1923). The ego and the id. Standard Edition 19:12—66.

19.

——— (1928). Dostoevsky and parricide. Standard Edition 21:177—194.

20.

Green, A. (1992). Revelations de L'Inacheivement. Paris: Flammarion.

21.

Hardin, H. (1987). On the vicissitudes of Freud's early mothering: I. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 56:628—644.

22.

——— (1988). On the vicissitudes of Freud's early mothering: II. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 57:72—86; 209—223.

23.

Harsch, H. (1994). Freud's identification with men who had two mothers: Oedipus, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Moses. Psyche 48:124—153.

24.

Jones, E. (1953). The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. Vol. 1. New York: Basic Books.

25.

Kemp, M. , ED. (1989). Leonardo on Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press.

26.

Lichtenberg, J. (1978). Freud's Leonardo: Psychobiogaphy and autobiography of genius. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 26:863—880.

27.

Mahler, M. , Pine, F. , & Bergman, A. (1975). The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant. New York: Basic Books.

28.

Melgar, M.C. , & Rascovsky De Salvarezza, R. (1997). The enigma and mother/child passion relationship in the painting of the Italian Renaissance . Paper presented to the International Psychoanalytical Association , Florence, Italy, April 11.

29.

Richter, J.P. , ED. (1970). The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Vol. 2. New York: Dover.

30.

Schapiro, M. (1956). Leonardo and Freud: An art historical study. Journal of the History of Ideas 17:147—178.

31.

Schroter, M. (1994). Two empirical notes on Freud's Leonardo. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 75:87—100.

32.

Shengold, L. (1974). The metaphor of the mirror. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 22:97—115.

33.

Spitz, R. (1965). The First Year of Life. New York: International Universities Press.

34.

Trosman, H. (1986). Toward a psychoanalytic iconography. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 55:130—167.