`In this groundbreaking book, Alan Roland's stated purpose it to integrate psychoanalysis with art and the artist. For those treating artists, or those who want to bring greater understanding of the creative process into their consciousness, this book is indispensable' - Psychologist-Psychoanalyst Newsletter

Alan Roland is both a highly respected psychoanalyst and an exhibiting artist, giving him a fresh perspective on psychoanalytic studies of art and the artist. Here he argues for an interdisciplinary integration of psychoanalysis with art and artistic criticism, and against the reductionism of applied psychoanalysis.

Exploring the artistic process and the concept of the artistic self in terms of self-objects and transformational objects, Roland challenges the basic assumption of applied psychoanalysis - that the work of art is a dream or daydream expressed within a formal aesthetic framework. Written in an accessible, non-technical style, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in psychoanalytic criticism or psychoanalytical theories of dreams and creativity.