This paper takes Bion's question ‘What sort of artists can we be?’ and begins the quest for an answer. In the light of the later aesthetic model posited by Bion and Meltzer, I consider first the nature and properties of symbols as containers for meaning, then the problem of how symbols are formed and metabolized by means of the transference-countertransference. Finally attention is drawn to the musical resonances of the ‘countertransference dream’ which have traditionally been overshadowed by verbal and visual considerations.