A new exhibition will explore the huge impact Sigmund Freud had on Latin America.

The display at The Freud Museum in Hampstead looks at the doctors, philosophers, writers, artists, journalists and photographers who spread Freud’s ideas throughout Central and South America - and answers the question why Buenos Aires has the highest proportion of psychoanalysts per capita in the world.

Freudian psychoanalysis began in Freud's home in Vienna before being adopted in Berlin, Budapest, London and Paris. But his ideas were warmly welcomed by Latin American countries, which left a lasting influence on the culture and society.

Ham & High: Grete Stern: Sueño Nro 35 by surrealist photographer Grete Stern, who created photomontages for Argentine magazine Idilio, which illustrated the dreams of readers. 1949. Grete Stern: Sueño Nro 35 by surrealist photographer Grete Stern, who created photomontages for Argentine magazine Idilio, which illustrated the dreams of readers. 1949. (Image: ©The Estate of Grete Stern, Courtesy of Galeria Jorge Mara - La Ruche)

Running from January 17-July 14, Freud and Latin America will explore  the reasons why Freud’s ideas took root across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru, through personal letters, photography, art, books, comics and publications.

Freud had a boyhood fascination with teaching himself Spanish,  inspired by the wish to read his favourite book, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, in its original language. As a teenager, he swapped exchanged letters in Spanish with his friend Eduard Silberstein, each boy adopting a Spanish pen-name inspired by Cervantes’s novella The Dialogue of the Dogs.

Ham & High: Grete Stern: Sueño Nro 35 by surrealist photographer Grete Stern, who created photomontages for Argentine magazine Idilio, which illustrated the dreams of readers. 1949. Grete Stern: Sueño Nro 35 by surrealist photographer Grete Stern, who created photomontages for Argentine magazine Idilio, which illustrated the dreams of readers. 1949. (Image: ©The Estate of Grete Stern, Courtesy of Galeria Jorge Mara - La Ruche)

In their correspondence Freud became Cipion while Silberstein was Berganza.

And in the 1920s Freud formed a close relationship with Peruvian psychiatrist Honorio Delgado, whom he described as his ‘first foreign friend’, exchanging letters, books and presents over the decades.

Important figures in the exhibition include black Brazilian doctor Juliano Moreira, who circulated Freud's ideas throughout Brazil, and Brazilian psychiatrist Gastao Pereira da Silva, who presented a radio programme in the 1940s called The World of Dreams - in the vein of fictional radio host Dr Frasier Crane.Ham & High: ‘Vidas Ilustres’ comic book, Freud: El Mago de los Sueños, or The Wizard of Dreams. 1963, Mexico. ‘Vidas Ilustres’ comic book, Freud: El Mago de los Sueños, or The Wizard of Dreams. 1963, Mexico. (Image: The Freud Museum)

In the 1930s Buenos Aires newspaper Jornado invited readers to submit accounts of their dreams for ‘analysis’ by ‘Freudiano.’ And Argentinian women’s magazine, Idilio, also analysed readers’ dreams, alongside surrealist artworks by photographer, Grete Stern.

Artworks by Stern, alongside Brazilian poet and woodcut artist Jose Borges, and Mexican multimedia artist Santiago Borja are also on display in the exhibition, which runs at Freud's final home in Maresfield Gardens where he moved in 1938 after the Nazis annexed Austria.Ham & High: Black Brazilian doctor, Juliano Moreira, a son of slaves, who picked up Freud’s ideas and circulated them throughout Brazil. Credit: Brazilian National Archives.Black Brazilian doctor, Juliano Moreira, a son of slaves, who picked up Freud’s ideas and circulated them throughout Brazil. Credit: Brazilian National Archives. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

He brought with him 34 Latin American books, many inscribed with dedications by their authors which visitors can see in his study.

Freud and Latin America opens on January 17 at The Freud Museum, 20, Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead.