Psychoanalysts have been interested in creativity since the inception of psychoanalysis. There are 22 references to writings “dealing mainly or largely with art, literature, or the theory of aesthetics” in the Standard Edition (21, 213-214). Freud had a keen appreciation and love of plays, novels, and poetry. His writings contain more references to playwrights and novelists, especially Shakespeare and Goethe, than to other psychiatrists. He wrote about Hamlet, Dostoevsky, and Michelangelo. But he lacked an appreciation of the visual and musical arts.

The world of creativity, broadly defined, was also of great interest to many of Freud's contemporaries (e.g., Rank and Jung) and has continued to interest his successors (e.g., Kris, Eissler, Winnicott, Milner, Rothenberg, McDougall, and Rose). They have attempted to build upon and enrich Freud's reflections on the nature of creation and art.