sigmund freud's collection an archaeology of the mind

Sphinx
Greek, South Italian, late 5th–early 4th century BC
terracotta, 21.0 x 15.0 x 8.0 cm
LDFRD 4387
Collection Freud Museum London
Freud made the myth of Oedipus and the Sphinx central to
psychoanalysis. ‘A single idea of general value dawned on me. I have
found, in my own case too [the phenomenon of] being in love with
my mother and jealous of my father, and I now consider it a universal
event in early childhood.’ 1 Freud believed this profound instinctual urge
explained the development of sexual identity in both men and women.
In Egyptian art, the Sphinx was a protective, benevolent male fi gure
who represented the pharaoh. In Greek art, the Sphinx was female, and
associated with death and funerary monuments. In Sophocles’ play,
Oedipus Rex, written in the fourth century BC, she is the destructive
trickster whom Oedipus must outsmart to save the city of Thebes, and
his own life.
Oedipus confronts the Sphinx on his return to the city after many
years. The Sphinx’s riddle – ‘Which is the animal that has four feet in
the morning, two at midday and three at evening?’ – was correctly
answered by Oedipus, ‘Man, who in infancy crawls on all fours, who
walks upright on two feet in maturity, and in his old age supports
himself with a stick.’
As a reward for saving Thebes, Oedipus marries the queen, Jocasta.
But Oedipus does not know that Jocasta is his mother and that, in an
altercation on his way to Thebes, he has murdered Laius, the king,
who was his father. When the truth is fi nally revealed, Jocasta commits
suicide and Oedipus blinds himself.
Freud’s images of the Sphinx explored the various meanings she
offered. This freestanding Sphinx wears the polos, or crown of a
goddess, indicating she has divine status and is worshipped in her
own right. She has the face and breasts of a woman, together with the
hindquarters of a lion, plus beautifully curled wings. A hybrid creature,
she is endowed with a lion’s strength while her wings, those of an
eagle, also symbolise strength and power. Her association with Greek
funerary monuments make her a daimon, meaning a ‘divine power’
or ‘fate’. Good daimons were guardian spirits, who acted as helpful
advisors between gods and humans.
1. Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (ed.), The Complete Letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm
Fliess, 1887-1904, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, London, 1985, p.272.
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