Post-Modern Era Synthesis Asher P.3 T.1

Sigmund Freud is known as one of the greatest influential individuals of the 1900s and the Post-Modern Era, especially regarding his theories on the subconscious mind. He founded the psychotherapeutic school of thought known as psychoanalysis, which is based on the observation that many factors that a person may be unaware of can contribute to emotions and behavior. He also founded the principle of id, ego, and superego that drives the personality through aspects such as instinct, morality, and ethics. During the Post-Modern Era, the zeitgeist was led by subjective views rather than objective, and the interpretive views became different depending on each individual. Freud's work became very prominent in interpreting these views according to his theories on the subconscience and the mind's emotions. His theories influence many psychologists, writers, and artists, some of which include Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol.

Jackson Pollock is most notably famous for his abstract paintings and was once called "Jack the Dripper" by Time magazine due to his drip-and-splash style of painting. His paintings were very surrealistic due to the fact that they were composed of simply the dripping of brush strokes and pouring of paint in a non-comprehensible manner for many people. Freud's theories of the subconscious had a great impact on his works; his art was shaped by his own personal feelings of struggle and history of alcoholism. As he underwent psychotherapy to treat his alcoholism, he eventually founded the way for future abstract expressionist painters. Because his artwork lacks any direct shape or form for a person to interpret objectively, one must look deeper and interpret it based on his or her own subjective views and desires. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, Pollock had employed Freud's theories in a visual manner.

Andy Warhol was another artist who had displayed Freud's influences on the subconscious mind. Unlike Pollock's abstract impressionistic style, Warhol became an icon for pop art during the 1950s. His style included silk-screening in order to give an "assembly-line" effect on his works, which represented the mass media of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and the mass production of everyday items such as soup cans. He would draw these figures and repeatedly produce them again, but in a different color scheme to induce a new perspective and perception of the object of the painting. Freud's theory of psychoanalysis comes into play here by connecting Warhol's own subconscious feelings with his artwork that became so well known during the pop art culture of the Post-Modern Era.

Freud's theories had a significant impact not only on these two artists, but changed the way society views the conscious and subconscious mind. These views are reflected in not only art, but also in writing and other aspects of everyday life as well.