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Abstract

The purpose of my essay is to examine the way in which Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalytic theorist, regards Baroque as an imaginary space of subjectivity. Lacan's theory of gaze is worthy of note, because it reveals an alternative way to approach the problem of representation in relation to mimesis broadly dominating the history of Western art; it is against widespread ocular-centrism, which privileges the visible rather than the invisible. In this way, Lacan's theory of Baroque puts an emphasis on the 'story' of Jesus by analyzing the visual space of Baroque. As well known, Baroque paintings are considered the component of architecture, not merely in the sense of decoration, but rather in the sense of seminal spiritual elements for the materiality. From this perspective, my essay analyzes Titian's Noli Me Tangere, Conegliano's The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Caravaggio's The Supper at Emmaus, in the sense of Lacan's Baroque. Baroque has been known as an aesthetic movement, but actually was an anti-aesthetic strategy to nullify formalistic experiments that avalanched on the specific moment of Renaissance. The Catholic church reinforced its orthodox doctrine against liberal artists and reformulated the iconographical rules of an artwork for religious paintings. The essay argues that the conflicts between religious doctrine and artists' desire are revealed in an imaginary space called Baroque paintings. This leads to the conclusion that Lacan's analysis illustrates the way in which such conflicts produce a unique subjectivity which can be named a Baroque subjectivity.