Texas on Thames

Freud Museum London

20 Maresfield Gardens
London NW3 5SX
Tel: +44 (0)20 7435 2002

£6 adults/ £4.50 Seniors /£3.00 Concessions/ Kids Free

I was meeting someone near Camden  and needed to justify the trip up north, so I decided to make an afternoon out of it and stop by the Freud museum.

I read online that visiting the museum only took an hour, so my plan was to be there at about 11:30 and move on to my appointment at 1:00. When I arrived, I realized that the place didn’t open until noon. I had thought it was enough to remember that the museum wasn’t open on Mondays and Tuesdays. I hadn’t bother to check the hours!

I sent out a quick text to push my appointment back to 1:15 and patiently waited out front with the other random Freud pilgrims. At 12 pm sharp, the doors opened and I made my way to the back to purchase my ticket.

Now that I’ve completed the tour, I can say that it’s not that the Freud Museum is boring as some reviews online implied. It’s more that it’s small. This is the house that Sigmund purchased after fleeing Austria during WWII. Turns out he didn’t live here very long before he passed on, but his daughter Anna continued to live and work in the home until 1982.

While the museum has loads of family portraits, quips about diagnosis and family heirlooms placed in the different rooms of the home, the real attraction of the museum is the study. You can see all of Freud’s Eastern artifacts placed around the office among his countless number of books. Some people like to check out other people’s CD or DVD collection. I like to check out other people’s book collections. I thought I might recognize some of the books and even probably have read a few. I was wrong. There were plenty I did recognize, but most went over my head and others I have to admit I wouldn’t be interested in. I guess I’m not as intellectual as I thought. Eh, I’m OK with that.

Anyway, other than books and travel collection, you get to see the chair that Freud had specially made to his ergonomic specifications and the lounger that his patients would lie down on as they rambled on in free association. Photos aren’t allowed, but oops I didn’t learn this until after I snapped a few pictures.

Freud's chair and desk

The Couch

The museum covers a good bit of information on Anna Freud and her work on child psychoanalysis. She was an avid weaver and you can view the loom she used as she diagnosed her patients.

One thing I found interesting is the friendship Freud had with Dali. The museum has a picture Dali drew of Freud. Apparently Dali never showed it to Freud because he was convinced it foretold Freud’s impending death.

Sigmund Freud died of cancer of the mouth, which is not surprising since he smoked up to 20 cigars a day. He also really upset the maid with his constant spitting about the house. They finally had to place a spittoon near the stairway to keep the peace.

There’s a small garden which I found a bit underwhelming, but it’s possible I missed part of it. I made it to my 1:15 appointment, and while I could have stuck around and watched the video going on upstairs a bit longer, I feel like an hour did the job pretty well.

Bottom Line:  Interesting, but save it for when you are in the area unless you happen to be a psychoanalysis fanatic.

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