The Interpretation of Drawings: Freud & the Visual Origins of Psychoanalysis

This exhibition invites the viewer to explore the role Sigmund Freud’s sketches and drawings played in the development of his psychoanalytic theories. His early drawings, produced when he was a medical student and shortly thereafter, are straightforwardly anatomical, based on careful observation. Turning to observing and describing the inner workings of the mind, which were by definition not subject to direct observation, Freud faced a more difficult challenge: How could unseen processes be represented? 
 

Here, looking at works that inspired him as well as at materials drawn from his unpublished and published writings and correspondence, we encounter pivotal moments and trace the evolution of his ideas as he wrestles with the problem of representation across his lifetime. This intimate encounter with Freud’s artwork and rarely seen drawings offers new, and sometimes surprising, insights into the man and mind behind some of the most influential and debated therapeutic techniques ever developed.
 

CLICK BELOW ON THIS FLOORPLAN OF FREUD’S DREAM HOUSE¹ TO EXPLORE THE EXHIBIT.