Form and Emotion

Images have a special capacity to express feelings. But what does the emotionality of images mean, who has it and how does it work? The project traces emotions in artistic forms that, like ciphers of body language, directly convey valuation, validity and points of view. The French artists of the 19th century were particularly innovative in the elaboration of emotional strategies. Case studies are used to illuminate the distinctive artistic and theoretical discourses of form and emotion present in 19th century french art. Emotions and their formal expression in images are seen as historically determined. It will be shown how images open up the world through emotions in a distinctive and non-substitutable way. The project combines current positions in emotion research with a critical revision of the concept of form. With its art-historical competence in decoding images, the project makes a significant contribution to emotion research by helping to understand pictorial components of emotional processes.