Vygotsky’s “The Psychology of Art”: A foundational and still unexplored text

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the last ten years, new trends in the interpretation of Vygotsky’s work have been developed, many of which have transcended the traditional interpretations that have been hegemonic in Soviet and Western psychology since the 1980s. Nonetheless, Vygotsky’s “The Psychology of Art” is among the most interesting books written by this Soviet psychologist and, paradoxically, has not received enough attention in the study of his legacy. In that book, Vygotsky developed a rich psychology, in dialogue with Philosophy, Sociology and Art. In this paper, some theoretical questions and concepts developed by Vygotsky are discussed, which were not included in the dominant interpretation of his work, neither in Soviet nor Western psychology. The discussion opened by Vygotsky throughout the book shows that philosophy, art, poetry, Sociology and Psychology are interrelated in such a way that they are a living theoretical representation whose epicenter was human motivation and the creative character of human performance.