An essay by one of the most brilliant intellectuals of the international scene, on ways of perceiving and representing images and forms.
[Vortices, atoms and sirens. Images and forms of abstract thought]. How have those things that by definition are not really perceptible and tangible been represented over the centuries? The answer to this question comes from an expert on perception – trained as a neurobiologist – who in this essay leads the reader on a fascinating journey through art, with a decidedly new scientific approach. Illustrated by a fine selection of explanatory images – works by artists of Greek and Roman antiquity, Raphael, Goya, Böcklin, but also Galileo, Dalton or Kepler – the essay by Pierantoni shows how artists and scientists, from ancient times to the present, have represented the non-existent.