The Lacanian split subject and its reflection in Marlene Dumas’s portrait paintings

In the present article, the application of Lacanian meanings in the field of philosophical thought and their comparison with examples of contemporary art has been studied. In this context, theories such as "split subject", "gaze", "Other" and "desire" are applied to the works of visual artist Marlene Dumas. In fact, this research seeks to answer the question of how the philosophical concepts of Lacan thought are reflected in works of art, especially paintings? And can the representation of the status of the contemporary subject in art be explained by Lacanian psychoanalysis ?In order to answer the questions of this research, we first propose psychoanalytic theories about the human subject based on Lacan's views in this field and then adapt them to Duma's portrait paintings. This approach will be in the process of analyzing and interpreting the works as a mainstay against which the paradigm of time in art is evaluated.


The research method in this article is descriptive-analytical and the data are analyzed inductively using written and library sources. Based on the research findings, it will be determined that the contemporary subject is a split subject with lacking, doubting, being prepared and divided.







And by following contemporary works of art, this can be find by reading works of art with Lacanian thought, a new way can be opened to understand the contemporary subject, especially in art.