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C.G. Jung and Picasso |
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In 1932, Carl Gustav Jung wrote a perceptive analysis of Picasso's psychology after seeing an exhibition of his paintings at the Zürich Kunsthaus. The analysis was published in the Neue Züricher Zeitung. The article offended many of Picasso's admirers in the artworld. In it Jung referred to Picasso as a Schizophrene; which caused such a vociferous reaction that he later felt it necessary to publish an explanation. If his artworld critics had spent a more time appraising the article they would have seen that Jung's observations were made on the basis of clinical research. He believed that Picasso's paintings were interpretable from a psychological perspective in the same way that his patients pictures were. Picasso's use of disturbed and fantastic imagery indicated that such imagery was arising from his subconscious. From it's characteristics, it could be identified as being schizoid, as far as Jung was concerned. This pronouncement was not a condemnation because Jung saw in Picasso's imagery an important process taking place which he referred to as Nekyia - the descent into hell. To Jung this was very important, for only by undertaking such a journey could an individual ever hope to come to terms with himself spiritually and psychologically. Picasso like Jung, had a great interest in symbols and it was from this use of symbols that Jung recognised Picasso's Nekyia, an experience that Jung also appears to have undertaken*. It was this that allowed him to speak with such authority about Picasso, although he was careful not to predict the outcome. Both Jung and Picasso practised forms of Alchemy. As far as Picasso is concerned this has been almost wholly overlooked by his biographers. Jung on the other hand openly introduced Alchemical principals to human psychology, much of which has since been embraced by psychologists around the world. With a similar intention Picasso concealed Alchemical meanings in his paintings, in the hope that one day his work might be better understood. The 1934 drawing corroborates Jung's analysis of Picasso. It too reveals Picasso's Nekya experience in it's penultimate stage. It conceals a multidimensional view of the artist's hell that is quite beyond conventional art historical appreciation. *By this I refer to the mysterious period in which Jung wrote his Seven Sermons to the Dead. See also The C.J. Jung Home Page where you'll find more discussion and images of the 1934 Drawing.
© Mark Harris 1996 Overview
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© Mark Harris 1996 (content), Simon Banton 1996 (design) In general copyright of works by Pablo Picasso are the property of the heirs to the Pablo Picasso estate |
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