A statue of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

, the founder of

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

, is situated in the grounds of the

Tavistock Clinic The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health trust based in north London. The Trust specialises in talking therapies. The education and training department caters for 2,000 students a year from the United Ki ...

, at the junction of Fitzjohn's Avenue and Belsize Lane, in Hampstead, North London. The seated bronze statue on a limestone plinth is a work of the sculptor

Oscar Nemon Oscar Nemon (born Oscar Neumann; 13 March 1906 – 13 April 1985) was a Croatian sculptor who was born in Osijek, Croatia, but eventually settled in England. He is best known for his series of more than a dozen public statues of Sir Winston Churc ...

. Freud lived nearby at 20 Maresfield Gardens for the last months of his life; his house is now the

Freud Museum The Freud Museum in London is a museum dedicated to Sigmund Freud, located in the house where Freud lived with his family during the last year of his life. In 1938, after escaping Nazi annexation of Austria he came to London via Paris and s ...

. Oscar Nemon was born and educated in Osijek before moving to work in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in the 1920s. He had read Freud in his teens, initially approached Freud as a young sculptor and was rejected by him. After Nemon had gained his reputation in Brussels, he was approached by Freud's assistant

Paul Federn Paul Federn (October 13, 1871 – May 4, 1950) was an Austrian-American psychologist who was a native of Vienna. Federn is largely remembered for his theories involving ego psychology and therapeutic treatment of psychosis. Life and career Feder ...

in 1931 to sculpt Freud for his 75th birthday. Nemon finished busts of Freud in wood, bronze and plaster, and Freud chose to keep the wooden portrait for himself. The wooden bust is on display at the Freud Museum in Hampstead. Nemon visited Freud for a final time in London in 1938. His last sittings with Freud would create a "harsher more abstracted portrait" which would become the head for the seated bronze in Hampstead. Freud wrote in his diary in July 1931 of Nemon's portrait that "The head, which the gaunt, goatee-bearded artist has fashioned from the dirt like the good Lord is very good and an astonishingly life-like impression of me." On seeing the head of Freud, his housekeeper Paula Fichtl said that Nemon had made Freud look "too angry", to which Freud responded, "But I am angry. I am angry with humanity." The bronze, slightly larger than life size, was commissioned in the 1960s, with funds raised by a committee chaired by

Donald Winnicott Donald Woods Winnicott (7 April 1896 – 25 January 1971) was an English paediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in the field of object relations theory and developmental psychology. He was a leading member of the Briti ...

. The sculpture portrays Freud with his head turned to one side as if in thought, with his hands in his waistcoat pockets. Freud's daughter

Anna Freud Anna Freud (3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian-Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father and contribut ...

attended the unveiling of the statue in October 1970, accompanied by children from her Hampstead Clinic (now the

Anna Freud Centre The Anna Freud Centre (now renamed the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families) is a child mental health research, training and treatment centre located in London, United Kingdom. The Centre aims to transform current mental health ...

). The statue was originally located in "an alcove behind Swiss Cottage Library, where it was virtually hidden away from the public." The Freud Museum arranged for the statue to be moved to its present location in 1998. The statue was listed Grade II on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

in January 2016.

References

External links

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