Jason Mejia  

P. Von Uhl  

M/W 12:30 – 1:45 

13/9/22 

Painting analysis  

Regarding feeling, the image does not make me feel much. After looking at the image more closely, I figured that the old man was a teacher by his facial expression and body language. Along with that the opposite side of him has a bunch of men who I assume are students learning. Also, the people behind the professor and the main subject of the lesson which is the lady in white. My initial thought was that she was dead or unconscious, so I was a bit confused as to why. He was teaching them what to do in some situation or so, but it is part of the lesson.  

Emotions would be something near a worried type of emotion/feeling from the picture if I were to be in the room. When looking at the painting I mentioned being confused about the situation but also worried about the lady since she is not responsive and is just lifeless before knowing what is happening. Freud was teaching students, one thing that I was correct at, but he was teaching about a condition she had. She had hysteria and Freud’s teaching the students as to what it is and what it does to woman since it was believed that it was correlated with them at the time. So, I would then feel interested if I were among the group.  

I would feel this way because hysteria is something new that Freud brought up and since none of us heard of it, of course we are going to have some interest in it. Hysteria according to Freud would be a disorder, neurological symptoms would include paralysis or seizures based on the lady’s symptoms. Which would be occurring to her in the room and situations like that are a serious thing since there is a chance of her being injured if left alone but with the help of the people behind Freud, holding her and providing support it would be all right, I guess.  

Now that I have more knowledge about the painting, these feelings do affect the way I view the image. Before I thought they were examining a dead body so that would be creepy and a bit emotional, but with knowledge I understand that situation is a learning experience. I would be interested to learn about a new disorder no one has really seen before so that would be exciting from a medical/scientific standpoint.