Truth can often be expressed through the means of visual art. But even then the concept of truth, of authenticity, is contested. The True and False Self are a combination of pathological perceptions that explains an individual's sense of self, as well as how defenses are used (Winnicott, 1960). The False Self is a psychoanalytic theory, coined by DW Winnicott to explain the use of a defensive veneer. In comparison, the True Self is the theory that humans exhibit an authentic self, a sense of reality. (Winnicott, 1960). In its most basic psychoanalytic form, the True Self refers to the activities of the ego. Winnicott theorized that the false self develops during childhood and that the mother, the good enough mother to be exact, plays a huge role in the competent development of the True and False Self. (Winnicott, 1960). The exploration of the true and false self is most evident in works of art and culture. In fact, there is a fundamental belief that visual art, painting, is a physical representation of unconscious processes. This essay will be about one of these processes, the True and False Self (Winnicott, 1960). “In the healthy individual who has a compliant aspect of the Self but who exists and who is a creative and spontaneous being, there is at the same time a capacity for the use of symbols. In other words, health here is closely linked to the individual's ability to live in an intermediate area between dream and reality, what is called cultural life." (Winnicott, 1960, p. 150). The examination of dreams and reality is not only a specialty of the arts, but also of psychoanalysis, the area from which the concept of True and False Self arises. Therefore, for the purpose... in the center of the card... the painting of his daughter Bella is a touching depiction of the true self in its purest form, a child simply sleeping. This is a rarity both in reality and in art (Winnicott, 2005). This particular painting is said to be the one containing Freud's youngest model (Haag and Sharp, 2013). To highlight the human nature of the child with all its flaws, the skin tone and texture in the portrait skillfully brings together all the ideas associated with "lived-in" skin. It is therefore not surprising to learn that the skin can be a window into the unconscious. “Every man has a secret life that hides itself, in the sense that it is dominated by an unconscious representation.” (Ulnik, 2008, p. 232). I believe that Freud's painting of his little girl Bella is a demonstration of the little girl's True Self, while at the same time it is an exposition of Freud's True and False Self..