Abstract
In 1915 Sigmund Freud began a series of three sets of introductory lectures on psychoanalysis, at the University of Vienna. During the 23rd lecture, delivered in 1917, he engaged in a discussion on the conflict between the realm of phantasy and the reality-principle. Towards the conclusion, though, he envisaged a resolution and declared that “there is a path from phantasy to reality — the path, that is, of art.”
In 1915 the artist and writer Arnaldo Ginna, one of the prominent figures of the Second Florentine Futurism avant-garde movement, had been investigating the function of artistic creation in relation to dreams, namely “to evoke in the most real reality the visions that have been dreams so far.”
This paper explores the significance of the creative process and the mechanisms involved in the shift from phantasy to reality. Taking a Freudian standpoint, the analysis brings the Futurists' theoretical contribution into the discussion. The study demonstrates how the artist reconnects the self, on a public ground, with the legacy of childhood which endures within us.
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