The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.

Freud’s Impact on Art
The dissection of the creative mind of great historical thinkers is vital for modern art scholars. It provides an opportunity for the scholar to explore the deeper motivation that drove these great thinkers towards creativity and arts. Sigmund Freud is one of the great historical thinkers who greatly influenced art. Freud was an Austrian psychologist dubbed the pioneer of psychoanalysis and the idea of the existence of a subconscious state.

The major contribution of Freud to art is putting forward theories that have shaped art and producing art content that has influenced the modern understanding of art.
Freud helped develop important theories that have influenced modern artists. For instance, Freud put forward the psychoanalytic theory. In theory, Freud explored the idea that the psyche exists. The idea of the psyche became influential for pushers of the surrealist art movement (Johnson Jr, 2018). For these artists, art needs to go beyond the confines of the rational mind. The only way the artists could do this was by tapping into the subconscious, an idea put forward by Freud.

Freud wanted the tapping of the subconscious to aid in patient recovery, but inadvertently, he fed surrealist artists with the idea of a subconscious mind that fulfills human desire. Consequently, surrealist artists searched for various approaches and forms that would help them tap into their subconscious emotions and thoughts, enhancing their works of art.

Freud’s writings related to art helped provide deeper insights into the works and artists. For Freud, the artist needed traits such as flexibility to tackle repression: the artists turned innermost human desires and imaginations into art via a transformative process. The writings on art helped people get interpretations of the transformative process and left a lasting impression on the viewers. Some writings specifically helped surrealist artists get ideas about the subconscious. Freud produced comprehensive works of literature, for example, interpretations of dreams, which promoted the idea of the subconscious (Jenkins, 2017). Besides, in Freud’s writing, artists get ideas such as the ideational mimetic.

It is an idea that refers to energy exchange between the person viewing a piece of art and the work itself. Accordingly, the writings laid the foundation for surrealist works of art.
Freud used art to help him think critically and hence produce his writing. The psychologist is believed to have had a massive collection of works of art. The massive collection of works of art provided enough resources to interpret the mind of the artists. As such, Freud made art more than just aesthetics; art became something that represented the deeper inner thoughts and desires of humans (Benjamin, 2018). The many pieces of art collected helped Freud overlap ideas and works.

It implies that Freud impacted art by making it a source of ideas for other great thinkers. It is also a source of the creative mind and has influenced modern artists to create imaginative art pieces.
In conclusion, dissecting the mind of great thinkers enhances art education. Sigmund Freud is one great thinker who positively impacted the world of art. Freud influenced art through the introduction of theories, for example, the psychoanalysis theory and concepts such as the subconscious. The theories, in particular, assisted surrealist artists in transforming their works of art. Furthermore, Freud had many art collections which influenced idea generation, making art more than just about aesthetics. Accordingly, Freud had a massive and positive impact on art.

References
Benjamin, W. (2018). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In A Museum Studies Approach to Heritage (pp. 226–243). Routledge.
Jenkins, W. J. (2017). An Analysis of Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. Macat Library.
Johnson Jr, J. L. (2018). Sympathy for the Devil: Thawing the Ego and Fostering Empathy through a Theory of Lacanian Reader-response (Doctoral dissertation, Union Institute, and University).