Book Review

Abstract

This book is a timely treat! After the publication of Jung’s (2009) Red Book, painting from the unconscious and picture interpretation seemed to gain interest and momentum in the English-speaking world. Ingrid Riedel and Christa Henzler are training analysts and supervisors at the Jung Institute in Z€ urich, Switzerland, where picture interpretation is a mandatory course in the certification process to become a Jungian analyst, as is also the case at the Jung Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. This English translation of Painting Therapy fills some of the gap in books describing the practical application of painting and picture interpretation from the standpoint of Jung’s analytical psychology. Only a proportionally small number of books describing the clinical use of painted images emanating from the unconscious and their analytic understanding have been translated into English (p. xii), and this translation effort, supported by the C. G. Jung Foundation Z€ urich, intends to make important German language texts accessible to international students. The lack of translated material is surprising since the process of painting was important in Jung’s personal and clinical practice, as documented in The Red Book (Jung, 2009) and Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Jung, 1961/1989), as well as through thousands of images created by C. G. Jung’s and Jolande Jacobi’s clients, many of which are now archived in the Picture Archives held at the Jung Institute in Z€ urich. Another book by Ingrid Riedel, in collaboration with Ruth Ammann and Verena Kast about the images contained in the Picture Archives, will soon be released. Speaking from a personal standpoint, it is not an exaggeration to say this book changed my life. It reconnected me to my roots, helped me find my center, and brought me to where I am today. Painting and museum visits were regular activities when I was a child. When I was 18 years old, I read Jung’s (1964) Man and His Symbols. Little did I know that my first career path as a graphic designer would eventually lead to my second career as a psychologist and Jungian analyst, uniting concrete images with symbolic images of the psyche. During my last year of university in Brazil, two