Abstract

The main aim of this article is to describe the intersubjective relationship between the observer and the subject depicted in a work of art. More precisely, I am interested in the observer’s imagination as it is manifested in this relationship. I argue that every act of empathy involves the imagination, but the act of imagination is never understood as an act of empathy. This article will take a new approach towards the perception of a work of art and challenges the traditional notion of empathy as “looking into,” “looking in,” or “seeing-in.” I describe the experience of empathy as a lived experience, where I understand it as a type of intentional act that is distinct from imagination; meanwhile, I show that the imagination plays a role in the empathetic experience of the work of art. How? I understand this situation as one that brings the observer into a new reality, an intersubjective mode of being where she finds a better understanding of her own inner world. I wish to argue that empathy gives a new dimension to experience, where being “here” becomes being “there.” Empathy is in fact a special form of meeting the Other. In the case of a work of art, we do not meet the Other as a person who lives their daily life like everyone else; instead we have an independent empathetic experience of the world, taking place within the work of art, in relation to the depicted subject. The nature of empathy is that it enables the observer to enter the deepest intimacy of the work of art and dwell inside it. This depends solely on the observer on how open they are to this world and how much it coincides with the observer’s will, as she always retains limitless freedom when interpreting a work of art.