Ever since Sigmund Freud published his monograph on Leonardo da Vinci in 1910, psychoanalysts have attempted to understand the psychology of art, artists, creativity and aesthetic experience. Over several generations new psychoanalytic models have been promoted which reflect the evolving nature of theory and practice - each explaining art and artists in its own light. The perspective I will use is a contemporary psychoanalytic one, with an emphasis on mind as embedded in cultural, developmental and relational contexts, as well as the importance of self-experience and idealization.