The Art of C. G. Jung

Painting, Sculpting and the Unconscious

This is a book review of ‘The Art of C. G. Jung’ by The Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung.

I’m a huge fan of Jung and have dived a fair bit into his work, but in addition to his philosophy and psychology, I’ve always really enjoyed his art; it always struck me as incredibly expressive and authentic. I have a very similar feeling to William Blake, although their art is quite different, and Blake is more proficient.

I was delighted to know there was a book about Jung’s art. This is actually quite recent, and Jung generally isn’t thought of as an artist. This book was the first time a big collection of his art was made and his artistic journey was explained.

The book is bigger than I thought, in part because it deals with a lot of background information. For example, many of Jung’s paintings of him as a child and teen survived, and those are displayed in the book and also aided by a short biography and how it relates to his art.

All the art is very well explained, and it rarely leaves you in the dark about a specific work. If anything, I found some paintings’ descriptions to be almost too in-depth. If someone isn’t super familiar with Jung, it would be very overwhelming and hard to decipher.

It explains the art both in the symbolic sense, obviously almost exclusively within Jung’s system, but I was also surprised that it dived into a lot of technical details of the painting itself. As Jung was completely self-taught, it goes over the techniques he discovered, how they changed over time, the experiments he made, and so forth.

I really appreciate that the approach was quite a holist about art in general, and not just showing his best paintings. It even includes many passages and descriptions of his involvement with art in general, such as comments on modern art, seminars, visits to museums, etc. Even details about the building of his house, which has always fascinated me, were provided.

It also has a big focus on his collection of art. I really liked this aspect which gave a very personal touch to the book, as if you got to know Jung in a more intimate way by seeing what he prized and what he collected. It also had a good amount about the Red Book, not only in the images themselves but also in the calligraphy and “background” illuminations which were really enjoyable to dive into, and it’s easily missed.

It was delightful to go through the book, and I’m glad I got it. If anything, I think at times it seemed to be too broad, and perhaps it would be a better read if it was more condensed. Nevertheless, given that this is the only place where everything related to Jung’s art was compiled, I understand the need to make this resource as comprehensive as possible. Otherwise, what would be left out would likely be lost and forgotten.

If you have been caught under Jung’s artistic spell, it’s very well worth getting. If you just like Jung in general, however, I wouldn’t get the book in hopes of further insights. While I’m sure there are some, I think it’s minimal, and it’s too specific to his artistic interests to be of value to most people.

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