Abstract

When considered in the field of aesthetics, the Bilderverbot (biblical ban on pictures) is received with a variety of attitudes ranging between the extremes of Kant’s praise and Hegel’s criticism. Despite being at odds with each other, Kant’s and Hegel’s interpretations suffer from the same theoretical flaw: both assume that the pictures the Bible talks about are representations related to their objects by way of reference. This assumption is proven wrong in the pars destruens of this essay, in which it will be argued that using the notion of ‘representation’ as a key to the reading of the Bilderverbot is a misconception that leads to an anachronistic and partial view of the matter. The concept of ‘gaze,’ elaborated by Régis Debray and other scholars of visual studies, is introduced in the pars construens of this essay to show that the biblical prohibition is actually aimed at a different kind of pictures, to wit at presentifications, which, instead of referring to their objects in a representational way, are rather thought to embody and dominate them. In conclusion, through Nietzsche’s insights into the reasons behind religious cults, the point is finally made that the notion of ‘power’ surpasses that of ‘representation’ in capturing and accounting for the authentic meaning of the Bilderverbot.