WHAT? Freud and Latin America 

WHERE? Freud Museum, 20 Maresfield Gardens, London NW3 5SX

WHEN? Now until 14th July 

WHY GO? To appease curious minds.  Mention Sigmund Freud and the word couch is embedded deep in our psyche!  There are two in the fascinating Hampstead house that was Freud’s home when he arrived as a refugee in 1938.  The world famous psychoanalytic couch is in his study just as it was when he practiced.  The other is a copy that allows visitors to pose and practice what he preached. 

And how he preached. The Freudian impact spread far and wide from Vienna and Europe to Latin America where his phenomenal influence is analysed in this intriguing little exhibition that reveals even more about the great man himself. 

It’s reported that Buenos Aires has the highest number of psychoanalysts per capita in the world, quite an eye opener.  Could it be the effect of all those frenzied tangos?!

Freud, an insatiable collector of antiquities and books, taught himself Spanish though he never visited the region and exchanged lively letters with many leading Latin American figures across a variety of disciplines, notably Peruvian psychiatrist Honoria Delgado who was his ‘first foreign friend’ and a great admirer as we note from their correspondence on show.

The Freudian influence in Latin America even spawned a popular radio show that ran throughout the Forties where listeners' dreams were analysed on air. 

It drew audience figures that the BBC could only dream about today!  Such was, and still is the power of Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.

IN THE KNOW For a tender personal glimpse of Freud’s family life, watch the Freud Home Movie - Vienna Golden Wedding 1936 narrated by his daughter Anna, also a psychoanalyst. The devoted family lavish him with love, and it's even more poignant as Anna reveals his sisters all perished in the camps shortly after.

Watch on YouTube and in the Museum.