Salvador Dali's "Metamorphosis of Narcissus"

Since I have already discussed in detail Salvador Dali's paranoiac-critical method as it relates to the interpretation of past works of art, I will also discuss an example of how this method allows for the creation of entirely new works of art.

The way that the paranoiac-critical method works in the interpretation of art is by analyzing, through psychoanalysis, various artistic free associations that are not consciously intended. The supposed end product is a fuller understanding of the work and a near-perfect understanding of why the work has a particular emotional effect. Paranoiac-critical interpretation is discussed in some of my previous blog posts: in Salvador Dali's Paranoiac-Critical Method which discusses Dali's paranoiac interpretation of "The Angelus," and also "The Moses of Michelangelo" by Sigmund Freud which discusses Freud's influence on this method of interpretation.

Salvador Dali also used this method outside of interpretation. The best example is his famous painting "Metamorphosis of Narcissus." By consciously creating free associations and thereby forcing the viewer to have a paranoiac view of the painting (that is to say, a view that resembles paranoia, linking two distinct objects without rationality), Dali creates both a disorienting image as well as a philosophical statement that relates to the unconscious mind.

The painting follows from the Greek mythological character Narcissus, a man who was known for his extreme beauty. The myth ends tragically, with Narcissus falling in love with his own image that he sees in the water, starving himself to death because of his inability to simply look away. On the left of the painting, we see a yellowish Narcissus, staring at his reflection in the water. The paranoiac creation is of course the hand holding an egg out of which a flower is sprouting. The fact that both of the images resemble each other in shape and size demonstrates, according to Dali, our unconscious mind's ability to create paranoiac images. Furthermore, Dali may have also been attempting to go deeper with the symbolism. Perhaps the egg, a symbol of sexuality, juxtaposed with the image of a conceited and sexually appealing Narcissus serves to demonstrate that these paranoiac associations do in fact have a deeper meaning than we originally believe. The same could be said for the fact that the flower sprouting from the egg is actually a daffodil, also known as a narcissus.

We have already discussed Sigmund Freud's free associations and how they work into various works of art. Salvador Dali continues this trend, but in a much more creative way. His invention of these mirrored paranoiac images conveys the idea of free association in a surprising and beautiful way, encouraging the viewer to watch, think, and enjoy.

"The Phantom of Liberty" by Luis Bunuel

As this will be my last week staying in Washington DC, I decided to focus on late Surrealism, particularly a French film titled The Phantom of Liberty (Le Fantôme de la Liberté) released in 1974 by Luis Buñuel. I have already analyzed the influence that Sigmund Freud's theory of free associations have had on both poetry and painting, but not yet on film.

One of the most notable features of the film as a whole is the fact that no single character is focused upon for too long. Instead, the plot shifts from person to person, event to event with very insignificant connections between them. For example, early on in the film, the character who has been the major focus of attention visits a doctor to complain about rather bizarre dreams or hallucinations he had experienced the night before. Shortly after, the doctor's assistant nurse interrupts the meeting and informs the doctor that she must visit her sick father. The film then proceeds to follow the nurse's life for a time period, a seemingly random switch not common in most films. This switch, predictably surrounded by imagery that involves dreams and doctors, is most definitely a product of Sigmund Freud's theory of free association. The switch in plot focus may be considered a free association, while the nurse may be considered the superficial association, in Freudian terms.

The film also contains other scenes that call to mind Sigmund Freud's theories, at least indirectly through Andre Breton's influence. One of the most famous scenes in the film is a perfect example: a group of people gather around a dinner table, but instead of eating and drinking, the guests each begin to use the toilets that surround the table in place of chairs! The image is both surprising and disgusting. To complete the extraordinary scene, a man excuses himself from the table to privately have a meal in the eating room! The juxtaposition and reversal of these two activities is an attempt to cause the same alarm experienced in a bizarre dream. Andre Breton's influences (and therefore Freud's influences as well) are obvious, even 50 years after the publication of the first Surrealist Manifesto, and even in an entirely new medium of art: film.

Andre Breton, the Doctor

A few days ago at my internship (Burton Marinkovich Fine Art), an artist by the name of Cianne Fragione and her husband stopped by to visit the gallery. Ms. Fragione's husband writes extensively on various art works, so I thought I would mention my research to him. He immediately asked me if Andre Breton had actually read the work of Sigmund Freud, to which I responded, "Of course. He explicitly references Freud in many of his writings." Mr. Fragione then told me that referencing is one thing, and that reading is another. This simple statement astonished me. I therefore thought it would be necessary to find a more complete history of Andre Breton's experience with psychoanalysis.

I discovered a lot of interesting information in "Surrealism: the Search for Freedom" (found at the website of Miami Dade College), an essay that contains a useful historical background of Surrealism. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Andre Breton was a doctor himself. He even worked in a psychiatric hospital during World War I, interviewing "deranged soldiers" with Sigmund Freud's techniques for analyzing free associations. Not only did Andre Breton read Freud's theories from a purely artistic standpoint, which is what I originally believed, but he actually used them himself in a hospital when interviewing patients.

Andre Breton as a soldier/doctor during WWI

I find it quite simple to conclude that Andre Breton had a very close understanding of Sigmund Freud's works. Next time I see Mr. Fragione, I will be sure to inform him of my findings: not only did Breton understand psychoanalysis from an artist's perspective, but also from a doctor's perspective.

"The Moses of Michelangelo" by Sigmund Freud

Today I will expand (or perhaps revise) one of my earlier posts on Salvador Dali's paranoiac-critical method. After reading through a book titled Psychoanalysis Outside the Clinic by Stephen Frosh, and specifically a section titled "Freud on Art, Culture, and Society," I have come to realize that Sigmund Freud had a much greater impact on Dali's method of art-analysis then I originally suspected. In fact, Dali may not have invented the method himself, as he claims. Instead, Sigmund Freud was already using this method, albeit without such a striking name.

First of all, Stephen Frosh's book, which never mentions Surrealism directly, referenced an essay by Freud titled "The Moses of Michelangelo." In this work, Freud goes about analyzing Michelangelo's sculpture in terms of psychoanalysis, just as Salvador Dali did with his interpretation of "The Angelus" by Jean-Francois Millet. On page 46 of Psychoanalysis Outside the Clinic, Frosh states that

Freud applies psychoanalysis in order to enhance the understanding of the work of art itself, with his remarkable if rather underpersuasive analysis of The Moses of Michelangelo.

Salvador Dali attempted to use this exact method in his essay "The Tragic Myth of the Angelus of Millet." Calling it his paranoiac-critical method, Dali asserted that his radical new approach would aid in the analysis of art and literature for years to come; however, there was nothing new about this method by the time Dali wrote his essay. Freud had already published "The Moses of Michelangelo" by 1914.

Either way, this psychoanalytical approach, according to Freud, was nonetheless extremely radical: using psychoanalysis to interpret a work might help draw new light on a piece of art that is hundreds of years old. In "The Moses of Michelangelo," Freud even goes so far as to say:

It is possible, therefore, that a work of art of this kind needs interpretation, and that until I have accomplished that interpretation I cannot come to know why I have been so powerfully affected.

Stephen Frosh further elaborates on the importance of this technique on page 47:

...the key point here is that psychoanalysis is being used to make sense of the art object not in order to advance understanding of psychological process...but rather as a mode of art criticism.... This is, in some ways, a scandalous claim, displacing specialist art criticism...in favour of a speculative "reading into / out of" the art object in terms of the possible psychological intentions of the artist.

Thus, we are able to conclude that Freud influenced Salvador Dali's paranoiac-critical method in a much more emphatic way than we previously concluded. After all, Freud first invented the method years before. Interpreting a piece of art "in terms of the possible psychological intentions of the artist" is exactly what Dali was attempting with his essay on "The Angelus."

"The Sleeping Venus" by Paul Delvaux

A few days ago, in a flash of serendipitous chance (which Andre Breton himself would have adored), I stumbled into a bookstore near Dupont Circle. On one of its feature shelves, a certain book presented itself to me, as if it knew I would glance in its direction: The Surrealist Revolution in France by Herbert S. Gershman. After reading through the first few chapters, a certain artist by the name of Paul Delvaux was brought to my attention. The painting I would like to focus on today is "The Sleeping Venus."

"Sleeping Venus" is an obviously Surrealist painting, especially rich with influences from Rene Magritte, a painter whom Delvaux revered. The typical juxtaposition is present: the sleeping Goddess and the serene Greco-Roman architecture contrasted eerily with naked women panicking and mourning over some unnamed catastrophe. This whole image is further juxtaposed with a clothed woman conversing with a skeleton (which includes enough imagery to be considered a Surrealist image in and of itself).

The Greco-Roman influence which is so prevalent in this painting seems most definitely a Freudian influence. From the classic architectural setting to the sleeping Goddess of sex and beauty at the forefront of the painting, it seems apparent that Freud's love of classics carried over to Delvaux. Throughout The Interpretation of Dreams, as well as his other writings, Freud makes various references to the world of classics, citing intellectuals like Aristotle, Macrobius, and Artemidorus, and even discussing the ways in which his desire to visit Rome had been reinforced "from the impressions of [his] childhood" (referring to his classics education as a boy -- chapter 5.B.). Freud even frequently (and this is not an overstatement in the slightest) uses classic literature to make points. The most obvious example is his use of the term Oedipus Complex when referring to one of his most famous theories, of course referring back to the Greek play Oedipus Rex. Perhaps Delvaux was touched by Freud's own unintentional (yet somehow beautiful) juxtaposition of Greco-Roman imagery with psychoanalytic theory.

Furthermore, "The Sleeping Venus" is full of sexual imagery. After all, Venus is the Goddess of sexuality, and naked women are strewn about in the background. Since the focal point of the painting is an obvious representation of sexuality, we may assume that a major theme of the painting is sexuality itself. Perhaps the women in the background are terrified at the fact that they are naked. If this were the case, it seems to be heavily influenced by Freud. After all, The Interpretation of Dreams has an entire section titled "The Embarrassment-Dream of Nakedness." If the women are not terrified simply by being naked, perhaps they are calling out for a mate. There is not a single male in the painting, except perhaps the skeleton. This brings to mind a section from Freud's "The Transformation of Puberty" titled The Object-Finding:

The child behaves here like the adult, that is, it changes its libido into fear when it cannot bring it to gratification, and the grown-up who becomes neurotic on account of ungratified libido behaves in his anxiety like a child; he fears when he is alone, ie, without a person of whose love he believes himself sure, and who can calm his fears by means of the most childish measures.

Perhaps the women in the painting are becoming "neurotic" or generally fearful from a lack of libidinal gratification. This possibility also points to an obvious influence from Freud's theories.

Many of the points I have made may be argued against and are by no means complete analyses of "The Sleeping Venus." Nonetheless, the painting seems to contain a large amount of Freudian influences, whether the psychoanalysis of sexuality or Freud's apparent interest in classics.

Blair Hughes-Stanton's Wood-Engraving

As a part of my internship at Burton Marinkovich Fine Art, I have been learning about printmaking. This technique involves creating a work of art by cutting into a piece of metal, copper, wood, stone, linoleum, etc. and placing ink either into the cuts ("valleys") or, conversely, onto everything that has not been cut. Finally, a piece of paper is pressed down onto the surface of the block, and the final work of art is created when the ink is transferred onto the paper. This process of pressing (and therefore creating the "print") can be redone many times; however, each print is considered an original artwork and not just a copy. There are many variations of printmaking, from etching to the linocut technique to wood-engraving.

As I was reading through a book titled Avant-Garde British Printmaking, I stumbled upon a chapter that focused on Surrealist printmaking. One wood-engraving specifically caught my attention: a work named Creation (1936) by Blair Hughes-Stanton.

Creation (1936)

When first looking at the picture, your mind is, in a way, forced to search for something that is familiar. Is there an animal hidden in the work? Perhaps a windowsill is situated in the distance? Or maybe at least a mop or broom is intersecting the picture? Either way, the viewer is left confused but also astonished at the work's beauty. Furthermore, the use of various different textures, shades, and designs reinforces this disorientation and confusion.

Throughout The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud describes a similar confusion when attempting to understand dreams. One example (out of many!) occurs in chapter 7.C. when referring to a dream he himself experienced.

Not only was its content senseless, but it failed to show any wish-fulfilment. But I began to search for the source of this incongruous expression of the solicitude felt during the day, and analysis revealed a connection.

Perhaps Blair Hughes-Stanton was attempting to represent the same type of disorientation experienced when remembering an extremely confusing dream. Although Hughes-Stanton was only briefly influenced by the Surrealists and although he may have not read these exact lines from Freud's most famous work, the idea he was trying to convey nonetheless may be interpreted as the confusion experienced during sleep. After all, even a brief encounter with Surrealism would have left, at the very least, a small impact on the wood-engraver, probably one involving dreams and disorienting the viewer.

Working for Mr. Burton and Ms. Marinkovich has been a wonderful learning experience and has even, unexpectedly, helped my research. I am still ecstatic with gratitude for this entire experience. Thank you for reading and please comment below if you have any feedback!

S. Dresden's "Psychoanalysis and Surrealism"

Today, I visited the Library of Congress again. As soon as I arrived, I requested a book that I assumed would be extremely useful to my research: Freud and the Humanities edited by Peregrine Horden. This book even contains an entire essay titled "Psychoanalysis and Surrealism" by S. Dresden.

Upon reading the first few pages of the essay, I found, much to my surprise, that Dresden's comparison of Surrealism and Psychoanalysis both confirmed my own views of their parallelism and also drew many contrasts between the two movements. These qualifications are definitely necessary in Dresden's analysis but do not retract from my thesis: the contrasting elements that Dresden points out are largely superficial and furthermore do not deny that Surrealism was in fact influenced by Freud in many ways.

S. Dresden's essay begins with a comparison of the beginnings of Surrealism and psychoanalysis. On pages 111 of the book itself (Freud and the Humanities), the essay ("Psychoanalysis and Surrealism") compares the beginnings of the movements, referencing frequent schisms early on:

Within the movement itself, which Freud would so dearly have liked to see firmly organized, schisms occurred again and again, and these...have continued right up to the present. The initial picture offered by the Surrealist school is remarkably similar.

Furthermore, the essay compares Sigmund Freud to Andre Breton on page 112. Referring to Breton, Dresden states that

Much like Freud, this leader would resort to excommunication (occasionally followed by reconciliation), and would dictate policies with an unflinching sense of his own superiority.

Aside from these superficial comparisons, which proved to be an interesting introduction, S. Dresden also reaffirms some of the ideas about which I have already written. For example, on page 120, he discusses automatic writing:

...the method of the [psycho]analyst consists primarily in allowing the patient to speak without guidance.... In many respects, therefore the process exactly resembles what Surrealism was aiming at in its automatic writing.... 

What matters is to see the parallel with the Surrealists's methods, a parallelism beautifully evidenced in the identical terms they used.

This analysis alone was enough to make me happy: after all, I have come to an identical conclusion (see my previous post, Free Associations and Automatism).

Dresden also reaffirms my theory that the Freudian theory of displacement had a major influence on Surrealist painting. On page 116, Dresden states

We may be even more surprised when we recall the fundamental importance to psychoanalysis of what Freud called the primary process -- condensation, displacement and symbolization. The Surrealists were certainly very much aware of these concepts; they availed themselves of them in both their literature and their art.

Again, I have already come to an identical conclusion (see my previous post, Dream-Displacement and Magritte's "Blank Signature").

Although most of S. Dresden's analyses are followed, almost universally, by a qualification stating "we find a crossing of paths -- and a rapid subsequent divergence" (page 126),  these analyses have still completely reaffirmed my own thoughts in almost identical rhetoric. Most of Dresden's attempts at contrasting the two movements are only superficial, making irrelevant and obvious statements like "They did not share a starting-point, nor did they intend to reach the same destination" (page 118), or referencing Freud's disgust for Surrealism [Freud is quoted on page 115 as calling the Surrealists "absolute (let us say 95 per cent, like alcohol) cranks"].

Dream-Displacement and Magritte's "Blank Signature"

In the past few days, I have been working on an analysis of Rene Magritte's famous painting "The Blank Signature." Having now seen the painting at the National Gallery of Art (just a day before it was taken off view!), I now feel comfortable interpreting the work and attempting to discover some Freudian influences.

To begin, I believe it is necessary to demonstrate that Rene Magritte was in fact a Surrealist influenced by Freud. According to the website of the Magritte Museum (located in Brussels), Magritte was a close friend of Andre Breton and a prominent member of the Surrealist movement; he even helped Breton publish the journal La Revolution Surrealiste. When referring to Breton after his death in 1966, Magritte once said

...his eyes are closed, but eyes open or shut, one can’t forget that his mind was seeking the Truth through poetry, love and liberty.

Now that it is clear that Rene Magritte was a Surrealist and greatly respected the theories of Breton's Surrealist Manifesto, we must ask the question: how exactly did Sigmund Freud affect Magritte's paintings, specifically "The Blank Signature?" Let us start by distinguishing Magritte's painting style from other Surrealist artists like the early Salvador Dali or Yves Tanguy.

The first thought that comes to my mind when viewing this painting, besides the bewilderment experienced from the spatial illusions, is the general realism of the painting. After all, the horse, rider, and trees are not deformed in any way, and the colors of the painting are also realistic, from the grass and trees to the horse and rider themselves. This is in direct contrast with other Surrealist paintings like Dali's "Persistence of Memory" and Tanguy's "Look of Amber" (I was also able to view this painting at the NGA), which both display relatively abstract, unrealistic scenes.

Because of the realism in Magritte's painting, I was immediately reminded of Sigmund Freud's theory of dream-displacement. In chapter 5.A. of The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud states that

...the psychic process which we have recognized in dream-displacement proves to be not a morbidly deranged process, but one merely differing from the normal, one of a more primary nature. Thus we interpret the fact that the dream-content takes up remnants of trivial experiences as a manifestation of dream-distortion (by displacement)....

Also in chapter 1.E. he states

Those authors who, in general, judge so unfavourably of the psychic activities of the dreamer nevertheless agree that dreams do retain a certain remnant of psychic activity.

In short, Freud is stating that dream-displacement is the process by which a seemingly trivial idea or image has a piece of it replaced by something that does not fit, something disturbing or exciting or disorienting; in essence, it is the very thing that makes the dream different from an everyday occurrence and "the most essential part of the dream-work" (chapter 6.B.). And that is to say, essential both in its attraction of the dreamer's attention and also in its creation of the dream's primary meaning and significance.

Through a close studying of Freud's writings (and of his own dreams), perhaps Magritte believed that his paintings were closer to expressing the juxtaposition inherent within dream-images. Although other Surrealist painters used the technique of juxtaposition effectively, they did not convey this idea of dream-displacement and its retention of general reality. This is where Magritte differs: his painting is generally a real image. The "displacement" that occurs in the piece is the spatial illusion, with distant trees (and even the sky and horizon) coming forward in front of the horse, and the nearby trees getting lost behind it. This technique creates a very disorienting and intriguing image that more-closely resembles an actual dream as described by Freud. This distortion also gives the painting its significance and meaning, just as displacement does in an actual dream. Some of Magritte's other paintings, like "The Empire of Light," also retain general aspects of reality, choosing to juxtapose common images with each other instead of using surreal images as the means for paradox.

Thus, I find it safe to conclude that Sigmund Freud's primary influence on Rene Magritte's work was his theory of dream-displacement. Just as Freud believed that displacement was the most essential part of a dream, Magritte made it the focal point of many of his paintings, bringing this theory into the realm of painting and leaving a major impact on the history of Western art.

Salvador Dali's Paranoiac-Critical Method

Right now, I am at the Library of Congress reading through a book titled Beyond Pleasure by Margaret Iverson. The book has given me a great deal of insight into the ways that Surrealists affected post-Freudian psychoanalysts. Although the majority of this information is unrelated to my topic, I have still found some valuable information.

For one, both Andre Breton and painter Salvador Dali had close personal relationships with psychoanalysts in the 1930s. Freud radically affected Surrealist art, and, in turn, various Surrealists influenced psychoanalysis. According to Iverson,

The 1930s were particularly fertile years for exchanges between the Surrealists and the then newly qualified psychiatrist [Jacques Lacan].

The book then goes into the ways that Jacques Lacan and Salvador Dali worked together and influenced each other, with Lacan's Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis at the center of the discussion. Now, my research does not focus on ways that Surrealists affected psychoanalysis, but, instead, the other way around. Luckily for me, chapter 3 of the book (titled "Paranoia") discusses a book by Dali that is extremely relevant to my research: The Tragic Myth of the Angelus of Millet. Dali's book discusses "an apparently banal rural scene showing a peasant couple pausing in a field for evening prayer" (page 40 of Beyond Pleasure). The painting, of course, is Jean-Francois Millet's The Angelus. The first thing that caught my attention was Iverson's description of the work in a section called "Paranoid Criticism" on page 42, chapter 3:

The rigorous exposition of the argument in Dali's Tragic Myth, the clarity of its prose, and its scholastic division into three sections and subsections mimes, I think, Freud's literary mastery. In particular, frequent reference is made, in both style and content, to The Interpretation of Dreams. Dali freely uses the language of dream interpretation, including such terms as "latent content," "condensation," and "displacement."

Iverson's discussion of the work is exactly what I hoped to find in my research: a confirmation of the theory that Freud did in fact affect Surrealist art. In this case, Iverson demonstrates that even Surrealist art-criticism was influenced by Freud. After researching further into Dali's book and reading some excerpts, I can say that I agree with Iverson's opinion. Furthermore, Dali's interpretation of the painting is intriguing: he argues that instead of praying with the angelus, the peasant couple is actually mourning the loss of a child and experiencing sexual frustration.

As I wrote in a previous post about one of David Gascoyne's poems, various Surrealist art-works seem to have been written with the intention of being interpreted from a psychoanalytic viewpoint. Now, it also becomes clear that Surrealists themselves interpreted works of art from a psychoanalytic perspective, just as Freud did when he interpreted Oedipus Rex and formulated his idea of the Oedipus Complex. In fact, Dali had a name for this type of art criticism, which doubled as a Surrealist technique when creating art as well: the paranoiac-critical method (mentioned on page 40 of Beyond Pleasure), which encouraged both the artist and the critic to see various ideas and objects in a single image.

Goodbye Phoenix, Hello Washington!

I am finally in Washington DC, staying in Georgetown with an extremely generous family whose child attends BASIS Washington.

Tomorrow, I plan on visiting the Library of Congress and attaining my Reader Identification Card which will allow me to use the Library's research areas. Furthermore, I hope to get some valuable research done. I plan on taking a look at a book called Beyond Pleasure: Freud, Lacan, Barthes by Margaret Iverson which discusses the influence of psychoanalysis on Surrealist aesthetics as well as the personal relationships between various psychoanalysts and Surrealist artists. If I have time, I would also like to read through Freud and the Humanities by Peregrine Horden which analyzes, as the title suggests, the ways in which psychoanalysis has affected the arts and humanities. As the weeks go by, I will surely continue my research with the aid of many more books.

Later on in the week, I also plan on visiting the National Gallery of Art where admission is always free. Specifically, I intend to observe and analyze Rene Magritte's "The Blank Signature." For details on my analysis methodology, take a look at my Senior Project Proposal; however, keep in mind that this methodology will be used in the context of discovering a connection between the specific work of art and Freud's theories.

In the next few days, I will probably experience my first day interning at Burton Marinkovich Fine Art. I have already spoken with Ms. Marinkovich about the internship and will begin working at the institute very soon.

The next several weeks will be very busy for me, so I hope everything goes well! Please wish me luck and comment below if you feel the urge. :)

Freud's Theories on Sexuality and Their Influences on Surrealist Poetry

Today, I will continue my analysis of David Gascoyne's poem "And the Seventh Dream is the Dream of Isis" in terms of Freudian theory. Specifically, I will discuss how Freud's theories of sexuality (and especially the sexuality of children) influenced the poem.

Most of us have heard at least a glimmer of Freud's unconventional and sometimes disturbing theories, from the Oedipus Complex to the sexuality of infants. Moving on from The Interpretation of Dreams, I will begin to take reference from another one of Freud's major works, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (sometimes referred to as The Three Contributions to Sexual Theory), specifically the second essay, "The Infantile Sexuality," which focuses on the sexuality of infants and children. Simply to point out the fact that Freud did in fact believe in the existence of sexuality in children, I will use a quote from the essay mentioned above, in a section entitled Partial Impulses:

 Small children, whose attention has once been directed to their own genitals—usually by masturbation—are wont to progress in this direction without outside interference, and to develop a vivid interest in the genitals of their playmates.

Now, how does this play into Gascoyne's poem? Did this portion of Freud's theories really have any impact on Surrealist art? In Part III of "The Seventh Dream," the narrator vividly states that

the trunks of trees burst open to release streams of milklittle girls stick photographs of genitals to the windows of their homesprayerbooks in churches open themselves at the death serviceand virgins cover their parents' beds with tealeaves

Of course this excerpt almost self-evidently demonstrates a Freudian influence. Both Freud's thoughts and Gascoyne's poem elaborate on a small child's fascination with the genitals. But Freud's influences on the poem go beyond the obvious: it appears that Gascoyne may have even written the poem in a way that would have been easily analyzed from a psychoanalytic perspective. After all, trunks of trees releasing milk would have almost certainly been analyzed by Freud as a sexual symbol, with milk representing the nourishment of one's mother (let us not forget the Oedipus Complex). In fact, the tree releasing milk is more of a dream-symbol than an example of the literary technique known as "imagery." Furthermore, the poem's title even implies that everything in the poem is the recollection of a dream.

This is a Surrealist painting that also includes references to Freudian theories on sexuality

And the poem contains even more disturbing imagery! The following lines are found in Part II of the poem.

she was standing at the window clothed only in a ribbonshe was burning the eyes of snails in a candleshe was eating the excrement of dogs and horses

Again, the first line is a reference to sexuality, but what on earth was Gascoyne thinking when he wrote the final lines of this excerpt? To help explain, let us use another quote from Freud's work, this time from the first essay, entitled "The Sexual Aberrations" in a section titled The Sexually Immature and Animals as Sex Objects. Freud references

sexual relations with animals—a thing not at all rare among farmers—where the sexual attraction goes beyond the limits of the species.

Furthermore, he describes (again in the second essay, "The Infantile Sexuality") how 

children become voyeurs and are zealous spectators at the voiding of urine and feces of others.

These quotes by Freud may have had an impact on Gascoyne, who seems to combine the sexuality of children with the bestiality sometimes found in adults. For Freud, although these acts were probably rare most of the time, unconscious thoughts about these acts were frequently found in his patients' dreams. Either way, Gascoyne seems to be transferring an example-dream to poetry.

This leads me to my final point. It is obvious that Freud influenced Gascoyne's poem in more ways than one; however, these influences do not occur only in the details of the poem, but also in the composition of it (and many other Surrealist poems) as well. Instead of using traditional composition (ie, writing it in terms so that a literary critic can analyze it with regards to literary techniques), Gascoyne uses a radical new mindset to compose the poem (and I am not referring to automatic writing, even if that may have played into its composition). Instead of writing the poem with literary critics in mind, he writes the poem with psychoanalysts in mind. Gascoyne did not focus on accomplishing literary techniques so much as he focused on composing a flurry of free associations. This is one of Freud's principal influences on Surrealist poetry.

And the Seventh Dream is the Dream of Isis

Today I will analyze a Surrealist poem in a Freudian context. I will attempt to discover some Freudian influences on the poem itself, whether those influences be directly from Freud or indirectly from Breton's theories. The poem I have chosen is "And the Seventh Dream is the Dream of Isis" by David Gascoyne.

Throughout the poem there is the obvious presence of juxtaposition, an indirect influence from Freud through Breton's writings. Take, for example, these few lines found towards the end of part 3 of the poem:

large quantities of rats disguised as pigeons
were sold to various customers from neighbouring towns
who were adepts at painting gothic letters on screens
and at tying up parcels with pieces of grass

This excerpt exemplifies the Surrealist conception of juxtaposition perfectly. There is the juxtaposition of the basic shop-exchange with the product of a rat disguised as a pigeon. There is also the juxtaposition of the simple mailing of a letter with the act of tying up the letter with strands of grass. These juxtapositions help us identify Freud's influences on Surrealism in an actual work of art, instead of just the theories of Breton. As Gascoyne put Surrealist theories into practice, he also allowed Freud's influences on the movement to become a reality.

David Gascoyne

But Freud's influences on this poem go beyond the indirect. Using the same excerpt that was quoted above, we can also begin to understand how Freud's study of dreams influenced the poem. According to Freud in chapter 6.A.I. of the Interpretation of Dreams

Starting from an element of a dream, the path of association leads to a number of dream-thoughts; and from a single dream-thought to several elements of a dream.

In this section of his work, Freud describes something that is somewhat obvious to the average dreamer: dreams can flow in a very nonsensical way, but a certain amount of logic can be derived from this nonsense. Let us use the poem as an example of this (and therefore an example of Freud's influence on the poem). The poem moves from the unusual shop-exchange to the peculiar daily life of the customers. Although rats dressed as pigeons is an outrageous image, the poem still flows in a somewhat logical manner: that is, from a customer making a purchase to a customer mailing a letter. This type of rapid succession happens throughout the poem, with equally remarkable details; and although the details are remarkable, just as the details of a dream are, the succession of these unique occurrences follows a logical path, just as Freud describes. In the same way that one dream-thought will inevitably lead to several dream elements, Gascoyne's descriptions inevitably lead to other, somewhat related descriptions.

So far, we have analyzed this poem and discovered that Freud did in fact have some major influences on it. In my following posts, I will attempt to elaborate on this poem and perhaps discover more Freudian influences.

Superficial Associations and Juxtaposition

I have already attempted to draw a parallel between Sigmund Freud's theory of free associations and Andre Breton's theories of Surrealism and automatism. Next, I will try to prove that Freud's "superficial associations" became a major influence on the Surrealist conception of juxtaposition.

To begin, we must understand what Freud meant by superficial associations. According to Freud, superficial associations were all things that connected various free associations (ie, emerging ideas or images with no interrelationship of meaning). Superficial associations can be anything like "assonance, verbal ambiguity, and temporal coincidence" (again from chapter 7.A. of the Interpretation of Dreams). Thus, Freud believed that there were connectors between seemingly contradictory thoughts that followed one after another. He called these connectors superficial associations.

Now, we must also understand Breton's theory of juxtaposition in art. Quoting another poet by the name of Pierre Reverdy, Breton states towards the beginning of his Manifesto that

The image is a pure creation of the mind. It cannot be born from a comparison but from a juxtaposition of two more or less distant realities. The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be -- the greater its emotional power and poetic reality...

Although Breton used these words in a way radically different from Reverdy's own poetry, this Surrealist conception of juxtaposition is still important to this topic. In essence, Breton decided that the juxtaposition or the visible and intentional contradiction of two images could create a very powerful and unconscious emotional reaction.

"This is not a pipe."

Here is where we draw the parallel between Freud's superficial associations and Breton's juxtapositions: as free associations are to juxtaposed images, superficial associations are to juxtapositions themselves. Allow me to explain. Free associations are not simply ideas, but ideas that flow in succession with no apparent relation to each other; however, there is a secret unconscious relation between them, and that is the superficial association. In the same way, the images that Breton describes cannot stand on their own, but must be juxtaposed with images that are radically different or contradictory; however, there is something that connects these two distant images, and that is the juxtaposition that Breton describes. In both cases, the connection is unconscious (whether the connection be an in-dream superficial association or an artistic juxtaposition). Breton further explains the unconscious aspect of juxtaposition in a section entitled "Against Death":

In my opinion, it is erroneous to claim that "the mind has grasped the relationship" of two realities in the presence of each other. First of all, it has seized nothing consciously.

It also seems necessary to note that Breton implicitly refers to Freud's associations in this very paragraph in order to support his argument. Also, something that specifically caught my attention is a statement made by Freud, which may have influenced Breton's intentional misinterpretation of Pierre Reverdy's beliefs. Freud states

Whenever one psychic element is connected with another by an obnoxious and superficial association, there exists also a correct and more profound connection between the two....

This single statement may have hatched the idea in Breton's head that there are certain truths hidden unconsciously in various juxtapositions.

It seems foolish to deny that Freud affected the Surrealist theory of juxtaposition. From Breton's implicit mention of Freud's "associations" to the Manifesto of Surrealism's synthesis of Reverdy's poetic beliefs and Freud's psychoanalysis, it becomes obvious that Freud had a major influence on the foundational Surrealist theory and technique known as juxtaposition.

Internship at Burton Marinkovich Fine Art

Yesterday, I received a call from my college counselor announcing that I will be able to experience an internship at an art gallery in Washington DC! I leave on February 25th and will be working at Burton Marinkovich Fine Art in Dupont Circle for about 15 hours a week, which does not include time spent on my senior project. As I continue my research, I will be lodging in Georgetown with a very generous family whose child attends BASIS Washington DC.

When I applied for the internship, my future tasks were described accordingly:

"Student volunteers assist with clerical and administrative tasks that support the department's education programs. Typical activities include preparing materials for art projects, data entry, photocopying, collating, filing, and assisting during teacher programs."

Dupont Circle

I will also have access to the Library of Congress (the largest library in the world) and the National Gallery of Art, which will both be extremely useful to my research. I truly cannot describe in words how grateful I am for this amazing opportunity.

Free Associations and Automatism

Since I will not be visiting Washington DC for another few weeks, I believe that it is appropriate to begin my research by visiting local libraries and museums. This week, I have chosen to focus on Surrealist poetry and its adoption of automatic writing.

To begin, automatism (that is, the process of writing, painting, drawing, or speaking automatically without conscious thought) was originally adopted from Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytical techniques; however, Freud referred to these unconscious flows of thought as "free associations." He explains this idea towards the end of chapter 7.A. in his Interpretation of Dreams:

"It has been considered an unmistakable sign of free association...if the emerging ideas (or images) appear to be connected...without inter-relationship of meaning"

For Freud, free associations were flows of thoughts or images that occurred in succession with no apparent connection to one another. The famous psychoanalyst frequently encouraged his patients to speak freely without interruption so that he could interpret their dreams and analyze their respective mental states, a practice that some Surrealist artists would have perhaps named "automatic speaking." In fact, in Chapter 6.E., Freud explicitly states that he is compelled to use a technique which "is based on the dreamer's [free] associations...."


This background now brings me to my point: Freud's theory of free associations drastically influenced Surrealist automatism, one of the most common Surrealist techniques. In a way that sounds eerily similar to Freud's description of free associations, Andre Breton defines Surrealism early on in his Manifesto of 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 the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern."

Breton defines Surrealism as expression of thought without the control of reason, while Freud states that free associations lack any interrelationship of meaning. With these two definitions taken side-by-side, and also with the knowledge that Breton was a huge fan of Freud, it seems safe to conclude that Surrealism began as a movement that sought to project its members' "free associations" into the realm of art, specifically by means of "psychic automatism." It now becomes obvious that Freud did in fact have a major influence on the techniques of various Surrealist artists, especially those who used automatism in writing or painting.

In my next posts, I will use a Surrealist poem as an example to emphasize my point. I will also attempt to discover a link between the Surrealist idea of "juxtaposition" and Freud's "superficial associations."

Sigmund Freud and Andre Breton

Welcome bloggers, intellectuals, artists, and friends! My name is Max Aguero, and I am a senior at BASIS Scottsdale High School preparing to begin a major research project which will attempt to discover what effects Freudian theories of the unconscious mind had on Surrealist art.


To begin, the premise that Freud was in fact one of the biggest influences on Surrealist artists will be present throughout my research. Andre Breton, the founder of the movement and author of The Manifesto of Surrealism, was heavily influenced by Freud's thoughts, especially his interpretation of dreams. In his Manifesto, Breton explicitly mentions the famous psychoanalyst:

"We must give thanks to Freud for his discoveries. On the basis of his research, a current of opinion is at last flowing, by means of which the explorer of humanity will be able to push his investigations much further, authorized as he will be to take account of more than merely superficial realities."

It is obvious that the Surrealists adored Freud and took his psychoanalysis into the realm of art. I therefore postulate that Surrealist art was affected by Freud's theories in various different ways -- from its creation of dream-like paintings to its adoption of automatic writing used for poetry instead of psychoanalysis. By touring a series of different art museums in Washington DC for over a month, I intend to make a detailed analysis of the ways in which Freud influenced the Surrealist movement.

Andre Breton once said that beauty will be convulsive or will not be at all. Let us hope that this blog is the most seizure-inducing thing you will ever read.