PSYCHOANALYSIS AND ART: ON SUBLIMATION IN THE CONTEXT OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION

INTRODUCTION: Drawing on the concept of sublimation in Sigmund Freud’s work, this project investigates the development of this concept throughout Freudian theory and its relationship with cultural expression, particularly art, also seeking to understand its articulation with issues such as civilization and culture. The instinct, unlike a fixed biological drive, possesses great plasticity regarding the choice of object and aim, allowing it to be displaced toward forms of satisfaction distinct from direct sexual discharge, a process Freud terms sublimation; although named as one of the vicissitudes of instinct alongside repression, reversal into its opposite, and turning round upon the subject’s own self, this concept did not receive systematic treatment equivalent to the others, occupying a paradoxical place in the theory: indispensable for understanding culture, yet resistant to rigorous formalization. AIMS: The general objective is to analyze the concept of sublimation in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, investigating its formulations and reformulations, with emphasis on its articulation with instinct theory and its manifestation in artistic and cultural production, unfolding into three specific objectives: analyzing the development of the concept throughout Freud’s work, examining how artistic activity functions as a symbolic expression of unconscious impulses, and investigating the relationships between sublimation, instinct theory, and metapsychology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Methodologically, this is a theoretical study of bibliographic and conceptual character, grounded in the reading and interpretation of Freud’s classic works — including “‘Civilized’ Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness” (1908), “Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood” (1910), and “Instincts and their Vicissitudes” (1915) — and secondary literature, adopting an interpretive and contextual approach. RESULTS: The results show that sublimation appears inaugurally, still without formal naming, in the discussion of instinct and civilization, later being named as a vicissitude of instinct without receiving equal theoretical depth; the case of Leonardo da Vinci constitutes Freud’s main effort to illustrate this mechanism, relating childhood experiences to an intense research instinct that partially substitutes for direct sexual satisfaction. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The discussion shows that the economic model of metapsychology is effective for vicissitudes that preserve a recognizable discharge circuit, but encounters difficulties with sublimation, which maintains instinctual energy in continuous circulation, constituting a limit-case within the theory. It is concluded that sublimation, despite being conceptually unstable, is structurally indispensable for understanding the relationship between instinct and culture, with art being one of its privileged destinations.

KEYWORDS: Sublimation; Psychoanalysis; Instinct; Metapsychology; Art.