Desire in Painting:Art and Lacan’s Theory of the Scopic Drive

Through an analysis of painting and reformulation of Freud's theory of the drive (dérive), psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan argues that paintings such as Hans Holbein's "The Ambassadors" exemplify the corporeal structure of the scopic drive and desire to see. The following essay will outline Lacan's interpretation and reformulation of Freud's theory of the drive, presenting Lacan's psychoanalytic theory to understand the function of desire in painting and to explain how and why paintings offer a unique glimpse into often-neglected corporeal structure of the scopic drive and fundamental structure of vision that governs the emergence of subjectivity.