Opicino de Canistris: Medieval Priest's Unconscious Mapped in Art

A review in artpress (February 2016, issue 430) examines Sylvain Piron's book 'Dialectique du monstre. Enquête sur Opicino de Canistris', published by Zones Sensibles. The book explores the fantastical drawings of Opicino de Canistris, a 14th-century priest from Lomello, Italy, who created intricate cosmological and autobiographical diagrams. Piron analyzes these works as a 'cartography of the unconscious,' linking them to medieval theology and psychoanalysis. The review quotes a passage where Opicino allegorizes Europe as a mutilated man (Job), Africa as a mocking priest, and Asia as a tree-like Samaritan. The article highlights how Opicino's monsters and hybrid figures reflect his personal trauma and the political crises of his time, including the Avignon papacy. The book is praised for its interdisciplinary approach, merging art history, medieval studies, and psychoanalytic theory.