The book explores the connection between Leonardo da Vinci's childhood experiences and his artistic creations. It analyzes a specific painting, "Virgin and Child with St. Anne,” to uncover hidden meanings and unconscious motivations behind Da Vinci's work. Freud argues that the painting represents a fusion of Da Vinci's mother and grandmother figures from his childhood, revealing an Oedipal complex.
By Sigmund Freud · First published 1910 · Genre: Psychoanalysis, Biography, Art Criticism · 6 chapters