When images make us ill

considerations on the impact of news and photographs from war on Aby Warburg’s mental breakdown from 1918 to 1924

Authors

  • Norval Baitello Junior PUCSP
  • Leão Serva ESPM

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23925/2316-5278.2022v23i1:e57502

Abstract

The article suggests that the German image scholar Aby Warburg (1866-1929) may have been a victim of an affliction caused by his involvement with his collections of war photography and newspaper, and magazine clippings: something approximating what is now known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The emotions concentrated in photographs of scenes of war, which he collected and handled during the entire First World War (1914-1918), would have been an important factor for the occurrence of psychotic episodes that led him to a prolonged hospitalization. This hypothesis would explain the state of mental breakdown, with manic acceleration and psyche exaltation, that affected Warburg soon after the end of the war. Based on this clinical example, we intend to present elements in order to understand the central concept of his thought about the power of images, the concept of “pathos formula” or “pathosformel”.

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Published

2022-08-30

How to Cite

Baitello Junior, N., & Serva, L. . (2022). When images make us ill: considerations on the impact of news and photographs from war on Aby Warburg’s mental breakdown from 1918 to 1924. Cognitio: Revista De Filosofia, 23(1), e57502. https://doi.org/10.23925/2316-5278.2022v23i1:e57502