The Hour of Birth: Psychoanalysis of the Sublime and Contemporary Art

To explore the impact of psychoanalytic ideas and contemporary visual artists upon each other, this volume examines the aesthetics of the sublime as an allegory for psychic birth.

Through the lens of a radically intersubjective psychoanalytic theory, Civitarese reinvents the Freudian notion of sublimation. He theorises that the aesthetic of the sublime reflects the internal process of establishing a space of thought through the gradual differentiation of subject and object. Supported by numerous artworks by contemporary artists—from Serra to Kapoor, and Wei to Kiefer—the volume attends to questions such as, how does the psyche come into being? Why can beauty be considered necessary for life? How does what we experience as ‘simply’ beautiful differ from the aesthetic experience of what is called ‘sublime’? In this way, Civitarese forges a conceptual tool that enables readers to weave together psychoanalytic theory and aesthetics.

Drawing on a deep understanding of both the latest psychoanalytic thinking and artistic practices, this book will appeal to all psychoanalysts and psychotherapists interested in art and questions of psychic development.