In creative phenomena of all kinds, but especially in artistic expressions, we can detect the presence of two forces in eternal conflict. We note that in every pictorial work there is a continuous dialectical interplay between both tendencies, both creative and destructive, between the plastic manifestations of the life instincts and the forms in which the death instincts are expressed. As Juan Vives points out in the examples he presents in reference to the works of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Egon Schiele, and Lucian Freud, there are times when the presence of the erotic, of the life impulses, predominates almost exclusively; while in others, the destructive impulses are more present, sometimes with great clarity and transparency, but in others their role operates in a more hidden manner. But in any case, in artistic work we always find this struggle that tries to break through from the ...read more
