Influence of Sigmund Freud on Salvador Dali

Influence of Sigmund Freud on Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali, like other surrealistic artists, was greatly inspired by the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory. In particular, Dali’s perception of his own life was shaped by Freud, and his artworks clearly reflected Freudian elements: dreams, the unconscious, and repressions. After reading Freud’s analysis of Leonardo Da Vinci, Dali deeply identified himself with the great Renaissance genius, and interpreted his life using Freud’s theory; he consciously explored his desires and frustrations, and exhibited the results of his self-interpretation in his works.

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who founded the theory of psychoanalysis. Besides treating patients, he also wrote a wide-ranging critique of culture. He stated that some ideas are repressed in people’s minds, removed from the conscious, but remained in the unconscious. The repressions are later fulfilled in people’s dreams. Freud’s theory emphasized the importance of individual experiences and encouraged people to look into themselves. Freud's notions on art states that “the sublimation of the artist's unsatisfied libido is responsible for producing all forms of art and literature whether it be painting, sculpting, or writing.” (Freud, 1940) His ideas directly led to the emergence of surrealism. Among the surrealist artists, Dali was an especially fanatic follower of Freud.

Freud affected Dali on how he perceived himself. Dali obsessively empathizes himself with Freud’s perception of Da Vinci. Freud characterized Da Vinci as a narcissist deeply influenced by his childhood experience. In the article Leonardo Da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood, Freud based the entire analysis on a Da Vinci’s description of his own childhood memory. In his memory, Da Vinci recalled a ferocious bird came to him, opened his mouth using its tail, and struck him several times with its tail inside his lips. Freud interpreted this memory as infant...