5 February 2008 – 21 September 2008

Remains of Memory, Disturbances in Reading - From the Sigmund Freud Museum Collection

The presentation takes visitors into the archive and the library of the Sigmund Freud Museum. Pictures, writings and objects, which until now have been stored away out of sight, are on display for the first time, providing an overview of collecting activity at the institution housed in the rooms where Sigmund Freud lived and worked. The presentation serves to provide visitors with a view into the museum's "back stage". In this way it closes gaps in the permanent exhibition, but simultaneously it makes them visible anew.

Additionally, it also poses fundamental questions regarding the archivability of knowledge and the Freudian perspective on collecting, reading, and documenting. On the one hand, Freud had little faith in archives: in his psychoanalytic theory they are frequently described as sites of censorship. On the other hand, his work made him an object of public interest, and thus Freud himself became an object to be collected.

First editions and corrected manuscripts from Sigmund Freud are shown alongside works from psychoanalysts such as Richard Sterba, whose emigration to the USA forced him to discontinue work on his Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Many private photos and writings from Anna Freud, who also lived at Berggasse 19 and conducted analyses there, are on view as well.

The Sigmund Freud Museum library developed around a gift made by Anna Freud, Sigmund Freud's youngest daughter. It was especially important to her that a library and a research center be established. Thus she left a part of her library to the museum and started an international effort encouraging psychoanalysts to donate books as well.

Another section of the exhibition shows the papers and collections of Margarethe Trautenegg, née Csonka. Many of the images in the archive are private photographs that reflect the biographical experiences of their former owners. Trautenegg was sent to Freud on account of her homosexual inclinations. His discussion of her in "The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman" (1920) displays a remarkably liberal attitude. The exhibition also features numerous items from the papers and collections of Eva Rosenfeld (1892-1977), which the Sigmund Freud Foundation acquired in 2002.

Address

Sigmund Freud Museum Wien
Berggasse 19
1090 Wien
phone +43 1 319 15 96
http://www.freud-museum.at

Opening Hours

Daily 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., July-September daily 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Description of the Museum

The Sigmund Freud Museum

Since 1971, the Sigmund Freud Museum has been welcoming visitors at Berggasse 19 in Vienna’s ninth district. Here is where Sigmund Freud lived and worked for 47 years until he was driven into exile in 1938. In the meantime, Berggasse 19 has become one of the world’s most famous addresses: it is where the founder of psychoanalysis produced almost all of his writings. Pioneering works such as “The Interpretation of Dreams” and “Totem and Taboo” were written in the study. Today these rooms in the typical late-nineteenth century house are open to the public, and they attract 60,000 – 80,000 visitors per year.

Exhibition on the Development of Psychoanalysis

In Sigmund Freud’s former office and private apartment, the Sigmund Freud Museum presents an exhibition documenting the life and work of the founder of psychoanalysis. Unique film material depicting the Freud family in the thirties can be seen in a video room, while original objects from Freud’s belongings, including his office’s waiting room and parts of his extensive collection of antiquities, make tangible the surroundings in which his patients were analyzed and a new science was born.

Art Collection and Temporary Exhibitions

A collection of contemporary art demonstrates the influence of psychoanalysis on artistic creation and everyday live in the modern era. Special exhibitions illustrate the origins of psychoanalysis, its historical context and the history of its reception.

Within 10 days
starting exhibitions
ending exhibitions