Details

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Leonardo, Michelangelo and Sigmund: Freud’s Psychoanalysis of the Great Masters” 

Presented by Dr. Jeremy Wasser
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

This story begins with two of the great masters of the Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci  and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

On a page in his sketchbook now known as the “Codex Atlanticus”, Leonardo da Vinci noted down a highly unusual experience. He claimed to remember from when he was a two- to three-year old child a bird landing on his cradle and sticking its tail feathers into his mouth.

In 1505, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to design and build his planned tomb. The pope died in 1513, long before the work was completed and Michelangelo had, by then, made significant changes to the original massive design. Far fewer than the forty planned statues, were ultimately made but the most famous of these, that of Moses, sits in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. Famously, Michelangelo depicted the lawgiver with what appear to be two horns on his head.

About 400 years later, the Viennese neurologist and psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud, applied the principles and techniques of the science and therapeutic technique he invented, psychoanalysis, to da Vinci’s childhood memory and the masterpiece of Michelangelo. In this webinar, I will discuss and analyze the impressively large clinical and historical literature on Freud’s writings on these two subjects. Freud was quite willing to apply psychoanalytic techniques to patients he himself had never had on the famous couch and his work with da Vinci and Michelangelo, while famously wrong in some respects, remains fascinating reading and provides us with unique insights into these two men and, more significantly, into the mind of the father of psychoanalysis himself.

The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.

Please note:

• Your participation is confirmed once you have purchased your ticket. You will receive the Zoom link to join the presentation circa 30 minutes before the start time.
• VIDEO RECORDING of the webinar will be available for unlimited streaming at your convenience for the entire month after the event.

Lecturer

Jeremy Wasser, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Physiology at Texas A&M University. Dr. Wasser serves as the program leader for study abroad programs in Germany, focused on the history of medicine, providing future doctors and biomedical science researchers with a foundation in physiology and the medical humanities. Along with his scientific publications he has written and lectured on the culture of disease, the history of public health and health policy, the history of human experimentation, and the role of physiological education in contemplative practices. Additionally, Wasser’s training in opera and theatre inform the unique personas that he creates for lectures in the history of medicine and performances related to science and storytelling.