AN ARTISTIC AND PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH OF LEONARDO DA VINCI’S PAINTINGS

• Main Author: Irina-Andreea STOLERIU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence 2015-06-01
• Series: SEA: Practical Application of Science
• Subjects: Art; Religion; Psychoanalysis; Leonardo da Vinci
• Online Access: http://seaopenresearch.eu/Journals/articles/SPAS_8_23.pdf

The starting point of the present paper is the work 'The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne', made by Leonardo da Vinci. The paper is based both on an artistic and psychoanalytic approach which opens new ways of interpretation due to the research of Sigmund Freud - 'Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood'. Freud claims that Leonardo had found the lost image of his mother in his works 'The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne' and 'Mona Lisa', thus justifying the artist’s direct attachment to these creations. Along with specific interpretations of the creative process, the psychoanalytic approach intends to explain and enrich the content of ideas of the present paper regarding one of the most valuable creations of Leonardo and also an artistic testament created towards the end of his life. Freud’s psychoanalytic approach brings specific interpretative content for the mentioned work of art. It is different from the artistic method, not contradicting various artistic studies, but complementing them in a harmonious way.