ABSTRACT

In this study, Greek mythology originated theme the "Leda and the Swan", its' reflections on art and the relationship between thema and the collective unconscious is analyzed. The psychological reasons for the interest of a number of artist's in the subject in various times is questioned. It is argued that similar images in the mythology and art is associated with personal unconscious and collective unconscious.

As a metaphor, derived from collective unconscious, Leda and swan in the story of "Leda and the Swan" has attracted attention of artists in the form of relationships between male and female, about sexual desire, fear and emotions of humanity that morphing in the way that transformed into aesthetic images. In addition, it is considered that it is the formal form of closed composition of nested two forms of Leda and the swan and substantial content of the metaphors is efficient. It is determined that taboos, fears or expressions which arising from both personal psyche and society's colective unconscious, in order to emerge on surface from the colective unconscious, it attains a way for expression converting into metaphors such as in dreams converting into another form in order to expressing. Therefore, each artist has different interpretations of the theme on account of their different experience or in other words, owing to intereference of personal unconscious. As archetypes that originated in the collective unconscious mind of humanity, the status of Leda and the swan, while implying sexual referring oriented in general that concerning the relationships between men and women, due to the impact of the personal unconscious, it is determined that it symbolizes maternity in Leonardo da Vinci's painting; symbolizes a status of being enchanted or ecstasy with a physical passion; Leda, single by herself, symbolizes moribundity in agony in Michelangelo's painting; and with the long necked swan, it symbolizes erotic connotations and phallic references in Boucher's paintings.