ISABELA DE VILHENA GAGLIANONE

The aim of our research is to investigate the conceptual construction of symbol and symbolism in the work of Aby Warburg, starting from his reading of Robert Vischer's essay Über das optische Formgefühl [1873] – in which he developed the theory of Einfühlung (empathy, or projection of one's own bodily sensation in the perceptual process), within the framework of the aesthetic discussion held in the second half of the 19th century on the symbolism of form. One of the striking consequences of Warburg's thinking is his “topic of the hand”, based on the polarity proposed in the 1923 conference between greifen [to grasp, to catch] and Begriff [concept], poles between which the symbol lies. This polarity, which became a heuristic tool from then on and reappears in the introduction to the Mnemosyne Atlas, was investigated by us throughout 2024 and partial results of this research were presented at the “Face au Bilderatlas” seminar (CEHTA-EHESS-Paris/France) and at the Anpof Aesthetics WG. For Warburg, the symbol is closely related to history and memory. We will attempt to show how, throughout his work, Einfühlung is amalgamated with mneme to identify the empathetic memory of images.