In this paper, the author explores and attempts to clarify the roles of negative capability, play and the negative in psychoanalysis. Using clinical material to illustrate what occurs in the consulting room with and without negative capability he discusses why, in his view, it is the indispensable medium for play. Using terminology inspired by Bion, the author explains why he regards the negative as a source of richness for analytic work. He concludes by discussing André Green's “Work on the Negative.”