The god of love is one of the best represented deities in Freud’s impressive collection of antiquities. Join Dr Burke, the exhibition’s curator, as she discusses the profound connections between classical Greek culture, the artworks collected by Freud and the development of psychoanalysis. Freud understood the god well: Eros could spark the civilizing force of love that resulted in fulfilling relationships as well as unleashing turbulent, unbridled and destructive emotions. Dr Burke will also draw on Freud’s personal experience of Eros in his passionate courtship of his future wife Martha Bernays.
Dr Janine Burke is the author of The Gods of Freud: Sigmund Freud’s Art Collection (2006). She is Adjunct Lecturer, School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Melbourne.
Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the exhibition ‘Freud and Eros: Love, Lust and Longing’ 22 October 2014 – 22 February 2015.
