The Freud statue for Prague will be created by Michal Gabriel

Prague - A statue of Sigmund Freud, which will complement the recently created monuments of famous personalities in Prague, will be created by sculptor Michal Gabriel. The sculpture of the renowned founder of psychoanalysis will stand in Kozí plácek near the Old Town Square. Tereza Tůmová informed CTK today on behalf of the organizers of this year's Freud celebrations in Prague. The ceremonial unveiling of the statue is planned for May of next year, coinciding with Freud's 151st birthday.
    The sculpture will depict a scientist sitting at a desk, with another table standing on the desk featuring a seated figure, and this scene will repeat itself. The repetition and mirroring of the figure encapsulates elements of Freud's theory. The inspiration for the seated figure came from photographs of Freud at his writing desk, which featured numerous ancient figurines. The sculptor worked with a transformation of scales and replaced the ancient figurines with a smaller representation of Freud. The desk also mimics the shape of the square.
    "By creating the table - square with a reduced and mirror-inverted motif, which is repeated twice more, I wanted to evoke a feeling of introspection and to shift the sculpture into the realm of dreams. The dream is the workspace of the subconscious, and thus I tried to create such a space. I aimed for a connection of reality with unreality into a naturally cohesive whole," said the sculptor regarding the project.
    Prague also participated in this year's 150th anniversary celebrations of the famous psychiatrist and native of Příbor. The celebrations in May and June included exhibitions, lectures, and other events. As part of the project, the organizers approached ten sculptors to create designs for Freud's monument. Nine of those approached submitted proposals - Jiří Beránek, David Černý, Michal Gabriel, Kurt Gebauer, Radim Hanke, Zdeněk Lhotský, Stefan Milkov, Alexandr Pečev, and Jaroslav Róna.
    Nearby Kozí plácek stands the statue of Franz Kafka created by Jaroslav Róna, which has been there for several years. In recent years, statues in Prague have been dedicated to figures such as academic Otto Wichterle, writer Jaroslav Hašek, composer Antonín Dvořák, Czechoslovak presidents Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Edvard Beneš, as well as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.