Empathy, Meaning and Abstract Art

Empathy is a semiotically interesting phenomenon which still remains in doubt however. The establishment of an empathic relation between the beholder and the object of contemplation not only influences the emotional state of that subject, but also the interpretative modalities which the subject will put forward. The study of this phenomenon does not concern only psychology or psychanalysis, but also aesthetics where empathy theory was first developed. A reconstruction of its numerous definitions can lead to reevaluete, among others, the notions of empathy historically proposed by Robert Vischer, Wolfflin, Lipps, Lee and Worringer. Without aiming at an empathetic method, the phenomenon is considered here in relation to the emergence of sense-making in perception. Set forth at the genesis of signification in art, empathy thus shows a close link with abstract and nonfigurative forms.