Introspective art

This page is also available in: Italiano (Italian) Português (Portuguese (Portugal))

Introspective Art: windows on interiority

(Estimated Reading Time: 1 min, 14 sec)

Introspective Art.mov

We hear much about the inner world, but what is it? What moves within us? How do we perceive it? How can a painting show it? We often hear that “all art is introspective.” Some might also say that “all art helps to look inside.”

We don’t discuss these beliefs and let everyone think what they want. What we define as Introspective Art, however, is something different: it is an art that describes our interiority. What does it mean?

An introspective painting is a window on the unconscious mind

The figures of such a painting are not human figures or objects of the material world, but symbols of what moves within us.

Paintings of Introspective Art: are windows on the unconscious mind
Paintings can be windows on the unconscious mind

They represent the interaction between hidden inner parts, which are often difficult to access and hard to describe with words.

We call these hidden parts “forces”. They are aggregates of thoughts, emotions, and physical tensions that behave mechanically. Over time, they become stronger and resistant to our control and gain increasing autonomy. Only if we can perceive these forces within, we can manage them.

Inner world: who manages whom?

If we cannot manage them, they are the ones who manage us more and more. We thus find ourselves with thoughts that we do not share, with emotions that we cannot control, with physical tensions that are difficult to relax.

As long as we look at a single thought, a single emotion, a single physical tension, without bringing them together in a context, we have little chance of managing them, and we feel conditioned and mechanical.

We need to observe the behavior of the clusters of thoughts, emotions and physical tensions — of these “forces” — to understand and manage our interiority.

On this site, we will often discuss introspection, art, and forces, as our research goes on.