Kept secretly in a bank vault for fifty years, the famous Swiss psychoanalyst C. G. Jung’s original Red Book or Liber Novus will be presented, for the first time in France, at the Musée Guimet. Handwritten, illuminated and illustrated by Jung himself, its French publication will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the analytical psychology’s founder’s death. This amazing edition will be completed with some pieces realized by Jung himself, as well as works from the Musée Guimet’s collections, illustrating Jung’s interest for Asia, or resonating with some of the experiences he lived during his journey into the depths of the human psyche.
An international bestseller, the Red Book was composed between 1914 and 1930 by CG Jung (1875- 1961) who, at the age of forty, while crossing a period of inner uncertainty, began recording his dreams and visions, creating what would become one of the most important works in the history of psychology. An impressive work weighing 7 kg, bound in red leather, this text, handwritten in the medieval manner, offers a stunning view of Jung’s personal work, during a crucial period of his life.
« There are not many truths, there are only a few. Their meaning is too deep to grasp other than in symbols », wrote CG Jung in the Liber Novus.
The book, displayed in United States in 2009, and in Switzerland in 2010, will be associated with preparatory notebooks, sketches, paintings and sculptures by Jung, belonging to private collections, to the Foundation of C.G. Jung’s works in Zûrich and to the C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology in New York.
Jung, who expressed great interest for the Indian, Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese worlds, for Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, noted the beauty of the mandalas kept at the Musée Guimet, in a letter written in 1950.
In addition to mandalas, ten exceptional illustrations from the manuscript of the Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama – previously fully displayed in « Tibetan Rituals », held at the Musée Guimet in 2002 – will be exhibited, as well as various Tibetan paintings, Indian, Chinese and Japanese works, some of those pieces illustrating Asian texts discussed by Jung in some writings.
Through his interest for the various cultures and mythologies of the world, C. G. Jung proved a kindred spirit to Emile Guimet, who originally founded a museum of religions.
