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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton August 20, 2019

Sic vita est: Visual representation in painting of the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY

  • Fabio Poppi ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Peter Kravanja
From the journal Semiotica

Abstract

This article analyzes how the conceptualization LIFE IS A JOURNEY is conveyed within a series of paintings ranging from the fifteenth century to the twentieth century. While the previous research on visual metaphor generally aims to describe how the domains of metaphorical conceptualization interact or discusses the rhetorical effect that visual metaphor is able to induce, this article takes a historical perspective in order to identify the main conceptual aspects shared by the paintings under consideration. It is proposed that the concept of a JOURNEY is associated with a PURPOSIVE ACTIVITY that involves the start of the journey and its termination as two qualitatively different moments that are faced as a collective/shared experience and that are inspired by some human wish. This article also shows how the conceptual potential of metaphor tends to maintain a coherent representation although the paintings represent different historical sensitivities and artistic approaches.

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Published Online: 2019-08-20
Published in Print: 2019-10-25

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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