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[[Freud]] valued [[art]] as one of [[human]]ity's great [[culture|cultural]] [[civilization|institutions]], and dedicated many papers to discussing both the [[process ]] of [[art|artistic creation]] in general and certain [[art|works of art]] in [[particular]].

=====Artistic Creation==========Sublimation=====He explained [[art|artistic creation]] by reference to the [[concept ]] of [[sublimation]], a process in which [[sexual]] [[libido]] is redirected towards [[sublimation|non-sexual aims]].

=====Works of Art==========Literature=====[[Freud]] also dedicated a [[number ]] of papers to analysing particular [[art|works of art]], especially works of [[literature]], which he argued could be useful to psychoanalysis in two main ways. # Firstly, these works often express in [[poetry|poetic form]] [[truth]]s [[about ]] the [[psyche]], which implies that [[art|creative writers]] can intuit directly the [[truth]]s which [[psychoanalysts]] only discover later by more laborious means.

While most of [[Freud]]'s [[====Jacques Lacan=========Works of Sigmund Freud|papers]] on particular [[art|works of art]] concern [[art|works of literature]], he did not entirely neglect other [[art|art forms]]; for example he devoted one paper to discussing [[Michelangelo]]'s statue of [[Moses]].<ref>{{F}} "[[The Moses of Michelangelo]]," 1914b. [[SE]] XIII, 211.</ref> Art===Jacques Lacan==

* [[art|prose ]] (e.g. the [[discussion ]] of The [[Purloined Letter ]] by [[Edgar Allan Poe]]<ref>{{S2}} Ch. 16; {{1955}}</ref>), * [[art|drama ]] (e.g. the discussions of [[Shakespeare]]'s [[Hamlet ]] <ref>{{1958-9}}</ref>, and of [[Sophocles]]' [[Antigone]] <ref>{{S7}}, Chs. 19-21</ref>) and * [[art|poetry ]] (e.g. the discussion of [[Booz endormi ]] by Victor [[Hugo]]<ref>{{S3}} p. 218-25; {{S4}} p. 377-8; {{E}} p. 156-8; {{S8}} p. 158-9</ref>).

=====Visual Arts=====However, [[Lacan]] also discusses the [[art|visual arts]], devoting several lectures in his [[Seminar XI|1964]] [[seminar]] to discussing [[art|painting]], particularly [[art|anamorphotic art]].<ref>{{S11}} Chs. 7-9, where he discusses [[Holbein]]'s [[The Ambassadors]]; {{S7}} p. 139-42</ref>).

====Differences between - Freud and Lacan====

=====Psychology of the Artist=====Though [[Lacan ]] does [[speak ]] about [[sublimation]], unlike [[Freud]] he does not believe that it is possible or even desirable for [[psychoanalyst]]s to say anything about the [[psychology]] of the [[art|artist]] on the basis of an examination of a [[art|work of art]].<ref>See his critical remarks on "[[art|psychobiography]]"; {{Ec}} 740-1</ref>

==More===Authorial Intentions=====[[Lacan]]'s [[exclusion ]] of the [[art|artist]] from his discussions of [[art|works of art]] means that his [[interpretation|reading]]s of [[art|literary texts]] are not concerned to reconstruct the [[author]]'s [[intention]]s.

The [[analyst]] must, in other [[words]], treat the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]] as a [[art|text]]:

<blockquote>You must start from the [[text]], start by treating it, as Freud does and as he recommends, as Holy Writ. The author, the scribe, is only a pen-pusher, and he comes second. . . . Similarly, when it comes to our [[patients]], please give more attention to the text than to the psychology of the author - the entire orientation of my teaching is that.<ref>{{S2}} p. 153</ref></blockquote>

==More===Method of Reading=====[[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[art|literary texts]] are thus not exercises in [[art|literary criticism]] for its own sake, but performances designed to give his audience an [[idea ]] of how they are to read the [[unconscious]] of their [[patient]]s.

This [[interpretation|method of reading ]] is similar to those employed by [[structuralism|formalism]] and [[structuralism]]; the [[signified]] is neglected in favour of the [[signifier]], [[structure|content ]] is bracketed in favour of [[structure|formal structures]].<ref>Although [[Jacques Derrida]] has argued that [[Lacan]] does not in fact follow his own method; [[Jacques Derrida|Derrida, Jacques]] 1975. "Le facteur de la vérité," in ''The Post Card: From [[Socrates ]] to Freud and Beyond'', trans. Alan Bass, Chicago and [[London]]: [[University ]] of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 413-96.</ref> and by two of [[Derrida]]'s followers.<ref>Lacoue-Labarthe, Philippe, and Nancy, Jean-Luc. 1973. ''Le Titre de la [[lettre]]'', [[Paris]]: Galilée.</ref>

==Examples===Illustrative Models=====Besides serving as models of a [[interpretation|method of reading]], which [[Lacan]] recommends [[analyst]]s to follow when [[interpretation|reading]] the [[discourse]] of their [[patient]]s, [[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[art|literary texts]] also aim to extract certain elements which serve as [[metaphor]]s to illustrate some of his most important [[ideas]].

For example, in his [[reading ]] of [[Poe]]'s ''[[The Purloined Letter]]'', [[Lacan]] points to the circulating [[letter]] as a [[metaphor]] for the [[signifier|determinative power]] of the [[signifier]].

====="Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism"=====

However, while such projects are interesting in their own [[right]], they do not usually approach [[art|literature ]] in the same way as [[Lacan]].

=====Analytic Interpretation=====That is, while [[art|psychoanalytic literary criticism]] aims to say something about the [[texts ]] studied, both aspects of [[Lacan]]'s approach (to illustrate a mode of [[interpretation|analytic interpretation]], and to illustrate [[psychoanalytic]] [[:category:concepts|concepts]]) are concerned not with saying something about the texts themselves, but merely with using the texts to say something about [[psychoanalysis]].

This is perhaps the most important [[difference ]] between [[Lacan]]'s approach to works of art and [[Freud]]'s.

=====Metalanguage=====Whereas some of [[Freud]]'s works are often taken to imply that [[psychoanalysis]] is a [[metalanguage|metadiscourse]], a [[metalanguage|master narrative]] providing a general lutmeneutic key that can unlock the hitherto unsolved secrets of [[art|literary works]], it is [[impossible ]] to read [[Lacan]] as making any such claims.

=====Methods and Concepts=====<b>For [[Lacan]], while [[psychoanalysis ]] might be able to learn something about [[art|literature]], or use [[art|literary works]] to illustrate certain of its [[treatment|methods]] and [[:category:concepts|concepts]], it is doubtful whether [[art|literary criticism]] can learn anything from [[psychoanalysis]]. </b>

====="Applied Psychoanalysis"=====Hence [[Lacan]] rejects the idea that a [[art|literary criticism]] which makes use of [[psychoanalytic]] [[:category:concepts|concepts]] could be called "[[art|applied psychoanalysis]]", since "[p]sychoanalysis is only applied, in the proper [[sense ]] of the term, as a [[treatment]], and thus to a [[subject ]] who speaks and listens."<ref>{{Ec}} p. 747</ref>).

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