Psychoanalysis in Art History
Psychoanalysis, created by controversial theorist and Austrian ‘Father of Psychology’ Sigmund Freud in the 1890s (Encyclopaedia & Duignan, 2020), is “A therapeutic method…for treating mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the patient's mind …using techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.” (Anon., 2022). In simpler words, Psychoanalysis aims to resurface unconscious and repressed thoughts and behaviours to understand how they influence our conscious behaviours. ‘Repression’ is a coping mechanism (again, identified by Freud) whereby the brain blocks out hurtful and anxiety inducing memories as a trauma response (Anon., n.d.).
’Free Association’ is a psychoanalytical tool, still used in modern psychology, that involves having the patient talk freely about whatever comes to mind first (Rabeyron & Massicotte, 2020). Freud used free association alongside hypnosis (Early French psychologist Charcot “presented the use of hypnosis as an experimental technique, without any attempt to turn it into a therapy, on February 13, 1882 “ (Walusinski & Bogousslavsky, 2020). ) with his patients and would ask the patient to say whatever came to their head after he had placed his hand on their forehead (Rabeyron & Massicotte, 2020) and would instruct them to “Act as though, for instance, you were a traveller (sic) sitting next to the window of a railway carriage and describing to someone inside the carriage the changing views which you see outside” (Freud, et al., 1958). Then, he would enter a state of ‘free-floating’, a mental state not too dissimilar to that which free association strives for, where the therapist can use their own unconscious to interpret and understand the patients’ answers (Rabeyron & Massicotte, 2020). “In these settings, free association defines the way the patient may spontaneously and unreservedly say anything that comes to mind. The clinician will then be attentive to the way in which the patient goes from one representation to another with more or less fluidity during the therapeutic sessions.”
Although Freud’s theories have been disputed, they provided a basis for modern psychology. Freud believed that our desires, traumas, and fears were present allegorically in our dreams, ready to be decoded and understood through psychoanalysis and that mental ailments were the result of ‘fixations’ that occurred during a person’s sexual development or through trauma during childhood. “Sexuality, erotic desire, and violence are at the heart of Freudian theories of the mind. What lies buried in the unconscious are powerful and instinctual drives, repressed by civilization and rationality, which if inadequately resolved are detrimental to the individuals’, and ultimately society’s, mental health” (Cramer & Grant, n.d.).
The Surrealists, a group of philosophers, artists, writers, and general intellectuals active in the early twentieth century (Anon., n.d.) are most often associated with psychoanalysis; their artworks and writings often relating to Freudian case studies or being steeped in layers of symbolism relating to repressed desires or psychological phenomena. The Surrealists sought to subvert the effects that civilised society had on us, they wanted to revolt “against the constraints of the rational mind; and by extension, the rules of a society they saw as oppressive.” (Anon., n.d.) The leader of the group and prolific writer, André Breton, had studied medicine in his younger years which led him to work through the first world war in a psychiatric hospital, undeniably a massive factor in his interest in the inner workings of man and thus the assembly and development of Surrealists (Cramer & Grant, n.d.) (Anon., n.d.).
In the first Surrealist Manifesto Breton defined surrealism as “SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state by which one proposes to express—verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner, the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.” (Breton, 1924). This definition is reminiscent of free association and shows just how close the link between art and psychoanalysis can be. The Surrealists were inspired to induce dreamlike states and the produce automatic writings and drawings which were influenced massively by the study of hypnosis and psychological automatism.
Surrealist artist André Masson adopted a pre-Pollock dripping technique using paint, ink, sand, and canvas primer. In Masson having no clear intention of where he should allow the paint to drip, the task of deciding and maneuvering the hand fell to his unconscious mind. After he felt his piece was finished, figures and shapes would reveal themselves in the traces of ink, Masson interpreted these scenes as communications of his true, deep desires and fears which he sometimes developed into more intricate artworks. Here, we see psychoanalysis used as the therapeutic method (the act of creating connecting to the unconscious) and also as a post-therapy investigative tool helping us to interpret what those desires and fears may be. Masson also used plain ink on paper to complete automatic drawings, being ushered by an unconscious thought stream to push the pen around the page (Cramer & Grant, 2020) such as in Automatic Drawing (1924) which features long, elegant, and flowing lines of black ink on paper. Masson had no predetermined outcome in terms of subject, style, or composition in mind for this piece, but suggestions of cartoonish figures appear; there are multiple hand and eye-like shapes that recur throughout the work. The vertical lines resemble long, gangly limbs while the horizontal lines carve out suggestions of torsos, breasts, and internal organs. Freud, or a number of other psychoanalysts, might have concluded that Automatic Drawing (1924) communicates a desire or fear of people, intimacy, social interaction, touch, etc. where the untrained eye may only see mindless scribbles.
Psychoanalysis and Art History were becoming legitimised fields of study at around the same time in Europe and have been applied together since then (Harris, 2006). Both disciplines aim to extract and investigate deeper, hidden meanings- they both analyse profoundly personal expressions of our inner workings. Despite this, Freud did not see the two disciplines as necessarily connected. In Freud’s Art: Psychoanalysis Untold Janet Sayers details how Freud likened psychoanalysis to sculpture which involves chipping away at the outer layers to reveal what is underneath, rather than painting; that is an additive method of applying layers of paint to make something from ‘nothing’ (Sayers, 2007). But, with psychoanalysis being a therapeutic method rather than a defined action it could be interpreted that the process of creating art itself acts as the therapeutic tool, like free association does; art can allow us to enter a space of creativity and free thinking and to connect with a work in progress which can induce emotions and evoke memories that we had forgotten or avoided without the need for, or alongside, talking therapy. Sayers goes on to say that “Art can make us conscious of what was previously unconscious or subconscious” (Sayers, 2007).
Anon., 2022. Psychoanalysis. n. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Anon., n.d. MoMA/ Tapping the Unconscious: Automatism and Dreams. [Online]
Available at: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/surrealism/tapping-the-subconscious-automatism-and-dreams/#:~:text=Surrealists%20were%20also%20deeply%20interested,%2C%20text%2C%20and%20their%20meanings.
[Accessed 30 March 2022].
Anon., n.d. Repression (Psychoanalysis) Wikipedia. s.l.:s.n.
Anon., n.d. Surrealism- Tate Terms. [Online]
Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/surrealism
[Accessed 30 March 2022].
Breton, A., 1924. Manifeste du surréalisme. Paris: Éditions du Sagittaire.
Cramer, D. C. & Grant, D. K., 2020. Surrealist Techniques : Automatism. [Online]
Available at: https://smarthistory.org/surrealist-techniques-automatism/
[Accessed 30 March 2022].
Cramer, D. C. & Grant, D. K., n.d. Surrealism and Psychoanalysis (article) | Khan Academy. [Online]
Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/dada-and-surrealism/xdc974a79:surrealism/a/surrealism-and-psychoanalysis
[Accessed 29 March 2022].
Encyclopaedia, T. E. o. & Duignan, B. eds., 2020. Psychoanalysis. s.l.:s.n.
Freud, S. et al., 1958. On the Beginning of Treatment (1913). In: J. Strachey, ed. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London: The Hogarth Press, The Institiute of Psycho-Analysis, pp. 123-144.
Harris, J., 2006. Art History: The Key Concepts. London: Routeledge.
Rabeyron, T. & Massicotte, C., 2020. Entropy, Free Energy, and Symbolization: Free Association at the Intersection of Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience. Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 11.
Sayers, J., 2007. Freud's Art: Psychoanalysis Untold. London & New York: Routeledge.
Walusinski, O. & Bogousslavsky, J., 2020. Charcot, Janet, and French Models of Psychopathology. European Neurology , 83(03), pp. 333-340.