Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, theorized on the unconscious mind, dreams, and how sex shapes our psyches. He became somewhat of a patron saint to the Surrealist artists of the early 20th century. As such, Freud was the man-crush of a relatively young Salvador Dali.
Before Salvador Dali met Sigmund Freud during the summer of 1938 in London, the great Surrealist artist had tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to meet the revered psychoanalyst at his consulting rooms in Vienna. Dali had lacked the confidence to knock unannounced on Freud’s door and instead had wandered the cobbled strasse holding “long and exhaustive imaginary conversations” with his idol. He had also fantasised about bringing Freud back arm-in-arm to his room at the Hotel Sacher, imagining the great psychoanalyst “clinging to the curtains” while he babbled freely about his dreams, his sexuality, and his fears.
Dali had spent his teens and early twenties reading Freud‘s works on the unconscious, on sexuality and The Interpretation of Dreams. His inability to meet the psychoanalyst in Vienna suggests Dali was in some way terrified of Freud, as if this grand examiner of human behavior was capable of seeing straight through him like a believer might feel when coming face-to-face with God.
The meeting was eventually arranged by a mutual friend. Freud was 81 years old and Dali was starstruck, so the visit was exceedingly awkward. But Dali was inspired to draw Freud -as a snail. Read the story of that meeting at Dangerous Minds.
(Image credit: Library of Congress)