Freud Film Club screenings at Freud Museum Hampstead

But a series of outdoor screenings taking place in the back garden of Sigmund Freud's former home includes movies by Lars Von Trier, Alfred Hitchcock, and Stanley Kubrick.

Taking place in early September at the museum in Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead, the Freud Film Club will see moviegoers handed headphones and a deck chair. They can bring their own refreshments or a picnic while enjoying the likes of The Shining, Rebecca, and Von Trier's Melancholia.

A Nightmare on Elm Street will be among the screenings at Freud Film Club (Image: Archant)

Events Manager, Jamie Ruers, said: "For the first time, the Freud Museum will be running five film screenings in the atmospheric setting of our beautiful Hampstead garden. Each film will be opened by a short talk by our long-time collaborator, Mary Wild, making unique links between the film and psychoanalysis. Everyone will get headphones and a deck chair upon arrival, and we encourage you to bring your own refreshments to enjoy. We hope those living locally (particularly any horror fans!) will be encouraged to join us!"

Profits from the events will support the museum where Freud moved after being forced to flee Vienna with his family in 1938.

The series includes Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1969 movie Medea, based on Eurpides' Greek tragedy, which complements a new exhibition exploring Freud's unexpected detour to Athens and his lifelong fascination with Greek antiquity.

Freud Film Club screenings take place in September in the back garden of The Freud Museum in Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead. (Image: K Urbaniak)

Tracing Freud on the Acropolis describes how the ancient Greek citadel had occupied his thoughts since childhood, when he first became captivated by the country's history and myths.

It tells how in September 1904, Freud and his brother Alexander were on their way to a holiday in Corfu when they were warned by an aquaintance not to visit the Greek island due to the stifling heat.

Fred Boissonnas photograph of The Acropolis 1907 is part of the exhibition Tracing Freud on the Acropolis (Image: Fred Boissonnas/The Freud Museum)

Advised to visit the capital instead, they found themselves at the world famous site where the 48-year-old Freud stood on top of the Acropolis and felt both joy, astonishment and disbelief.

Decades later Freud wrote about his experience in A Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis, to French author Romain Rolland: "When, finally, on the afternoon after our arrival, I stood on the Acropolis and cast my eyes around upon the landscape, a surprising thought suddenly entered my mind: "So all this really does exist, just as we learnt at school!... It is an example of the incredulity that arises so often when we are surprised by a piece of good news, when we hear we have won a prize, for instance, or drawn a winner, or when a girl learns that the man whom she has secretly loved has asked her parents for leave to pay his addresses to her."

Freud and his brother (pictured here in 1936) travelled to Athens together in 1904 and visited the Acropolis. (Image: The Freud Museum)

The exhibition gathers archives, photographs, images, travel correspondence and objects exploring Freud's journey and interest in Greece, including artefacts from his precious collection which came with him to London.

Marina Maniadaki, Curator at the Freud Museum, said: "As Freud was getting older, he kept revisiting the moment he stood atop the Acropolis hill in Athens. We might not be able to trace exactly what he experienced that morning in 1904, but there are hints across his correspondence and writings, as well as his collection of books and antiquities that allow for a visual interpretation of that significant experience. Based on this material, the exhibition aims to trace an impression of the Acropolis as Freud saw it in 1904 – and as a recurring image throughout his life."A bronze figure of Athena was one of Freud's collection of antiquities and artefacts on show in the exhibition. (Image: The Freud Museum)

Giuseppe Albano, Director of the Freud Museum, said: "Tracing Freud on the Acropolis is an exhibition reflecting on Freud’s visit to the world's most romantic archaeological site and bringing to life the world of Athens as Freud experienced it in 1904."

Freud Film Club starts on September 2 and Tracing Freud on the Acropolis runs until January 7, 2024 at the Freud Museum, Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead.