The author points out the presence in Freud’s itinerary of a trauma which is not that one of his seduction theory, neither that one of his repression theory; it is that one he lived when he met with what he called the "absolute beauty" of some works of art of the Italian Renaissance. The author points out also the strict consequentiality between this trauma and the formulation of the Oedipus complex paradigm. On this ground, the author suggests that the formulation of this paradigm and its declinations in Freud’s self-analysis constitute a defensive construction which Freud carried out against the trauma which he lived when he met with that beauty. It is also suggested that this defensive construction is a moment of the history of the rejecting reaction against that beauty which began immediately after its appearance. The author finally hints at a definition of the concept of trauma in general and of the ontological and historical meaning of psychotherapy.
Keywords: Trauma, art, beauty, Oedipus complex, selfanalysis