ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the importance of the function of sight connected to the interpretation of what is visible and peculiar to every person. The patients described manifest a marked interest in surfaces and appearances, which is not related to the aesthetic emotion one may have before the beauty of artistic works. This interest in the world of surfaces in the realm of autism was interpreted by Meltzer as an interest for what can be seen and touched, devoid of any experience in the internal space; it is something that can be experienced by the Self without a process of symbolization. Meltzer holds that the child develops an aesthetic conflict from his initial relationship with the mother and the subsequent separation: the baby will learn that behind the apparent beauty of the maternal breast, there is a secret, internal, ambiguous and variable internal world that can cause him psychological suffering. The chapter ends with a description of a clinical case in which the analyst was struck by the absence of exterior beauty in one of her patients. After learning about his history and physical and psychological suffering, beauty came out through the analytic relationship with a wealth of affection that dispelled the aesthetic problem of appearance.
