Lou Andreas-Salomé’s life was characterized by her pursuit of knowledge and her desire to live life to its fullest. In her 75 years, the 19th-century Russian German writer and intellectual maintained close friendships with some of the most influential figures of the time, such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud, and she is now credited as the world’s first female psychoanalyst. By all accounts, she was not one to wait for gifts to be handed out. When she saw something she wanted, she went after it.