Constructed Dreams

Considering Depth-Psychological Research on the Impact of Arts

Abstract

Dreams and art are psychological structures that seem to contribute little to coping with everyday life. For Sigmund Freud, that is especially why they provide valuable information about how the unconscious affects the human mind. In his reconstruction work, Freud was guided by the thesis of the complete determination of the meaning of all mental phenomena and related dreams and artefacts to motifs from the life stories of the dreamers and artists. Through his involvement with poetry and visual art, particularly the Gradiva novel by Wilhelm Jensen and Michelangelo’s Moses sculpture, he came across the question of impact, which he did not pursue further. The possibility of systematic research on the impact of works of art on the basis of a depth psychological approach is presented by taking into account a project currently being implemented in Milan including Anselm Kiefer’s Seven Heavenly Palaces.