Psychoanalysis and Art: Kleinian Perspectives

This essential edition brings together a collection of classic papers from key figures in Kleinian and post-Kleinian thought that explore the relationship between psychoanalysis and art.
Sandra Gosso begins with a comprehensive and fascinating guide to the history of this relationship that began with Freud and was further developed by Melanie Klein, at a time when most analysts were moving away from links with art. Melanie Klein’s pivotal paper - Infantile Anxiety Situations Reflected in a Work of Art and in the Creative Impulse - follows the Introduction. The other papers featured are mainly from British analysts who developed Melanie Klein’s ideas, inspired by the influence of the creative Bloomsbury and Imago Groups. Members of the Imago Group include its founder Adrian Stokes, Donald Meltzer, Wilfred Bion, Roger Money-Kyrle and Marion Milner; all of whom had undergone analysis with Melanie Klein. Their interests range throughout the arts and this allowed them to explore the relationship between art and psychoanalysis from varied and thought-provoking angles. The papers featured here investigate such core themes as the creative impulse, aesthetics, literature and symbol formation.
This definitive volume is essential reading for students and professionals in the fields of psychoanalysis, art and cultural studies.

Contributors include Melanie Klein, Donald Meltzer, Marion Milner, Joan Rivière, Hanna Segal, Adrian Stokes, Margot Waddell, Meg Harris Williams