Nymph. Motif, Phantom, Affect: A Contribution to the Study of Aby Warburg (1866-1929)

Behind them, close to the open door, there runs - no, that is not the

word, there flies, or rather there hovers - the object of my dreams,

which slowly assumes the proportion of a harming nightmare. A fantastic

figure - should I call her a servant girl, or rather a classical nymph?

(…) This lively, light-footed and rapid gait, this striding step,

which contrasts with the aloof distance of all other figures, what is

the meaning of it all? (…) My condition varied between a bad dream and

a fairy tale (…). I lost my reason. It was always she who brought life

and movement into an otherwise calm scene. Indeed, she appeared to be

the embodiment of movement (…) but is it very unpleasant to be her

lover? (…) Who is she? Where does she come from? Have I encountered

her before? I mean one and a half millennia earlier? Does she come from

a noble Greek lineage, and did her great-grandmother have an affair with

people from Asia Minor, Egypt or Mesopotamia?

pAby Warburg (1866-1929)