Abstraction and Identification

Abstraction and Empathy, a cult text in the fields of art history, cultural history, and aesthetics, has been among the fundamental resources almost everywhere in the world since the day it was written. This work, written by art historian Wilhelm Worringer at the very beginning of the twentieth century, still maintains its importance for today's researchers.

Wilhelm Worringer examines the theories of "abstraction" and "empathy" he developed and transferred to art from psychology, based on various cultural backgrounds, from Greek art to Byzantine and Islamic art. In this respect, the text offers a completely different perspective at the time it was written, and at the same time forms the intellectual infrastructure of the movements that would emerge shortly thereafter and are now considered within the scope of "modern art." Abstraction and Empathy continues to guide art historians researching modern art theory, as well as readers who are curious about how art can be interpreted in the context of abstraction and empathy.