Nymph. Motif, Phantom, Affect. Part II: Aby Warburg’s (1866-1929) Butterflies as Art Historical Paradigms

This essay, a meditation on the butterfly and its resonance in art

history, is organized in three parts. I begin with Aby Warburg’s

fascination with moths and butterflies as documented by (1) his letters

to Andre Jolles (e.g. the letter from 1900 known as ‘But such high-flown

movements are not for me’), (2) the Kreuzlingen pathological report and

archives by Ludwig Binswanger (1881-1966) preserved in Tubingen, and (3)

the Ninfa fiorentina file in the Warburg Institute. As Seelentierchen

• soul animals, psyche - butterflies are archetypically

connected to deep cultural affects regarding the soul, resurrection and

immortality. Part 2 of the paper considers the butterfly as paradigm for

the visual medium and the oculocentric paradigms in art history. Indeed,

the butterfly has a specific visual (and sensory) impact on humankind

with its flashy, quick, vibrant and hypnotic wings, its medusian eyes

and its capability to camouflage itself (cf. ‘Sciences diagonales’ by

Roger Caillois (1913-1978)). Hypnosis, Medusa and camouflage are three

important paradigms with which to consider the essence of the image as a

dis/appearing, enchanting, and deceiving medium. In Part 3, the three

paradigms become the basis for new reflections about art history (and

the history of art history) as a study of the butterfly, in short, as

‘lepidopterology’.