Incarnation and “Déchirure”; Annunciation and Crucifixion

Abstract

This chapter proposes a typology of paintings in Western art based on the themes of the annunciation and the crucifixion and inspired by the way that Georges Didi-Huberman reflects upon these themes in Devant l’image, linking them to the concepts of incarnation, pan, and déchirure (“tear”). Departing from the term of “incarnation” as Didi-Huberman’s alternative to “representation”, this chapter distinguishes between paintings of the annunciation type, exploring the preconditions for something to appear, and the crucifixion type, letting the body and its fluids make their imprint on the canvas. This chapter gives examples of paintings from modern Danish art (Anna Ancher, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Theodor Phillipsen) that do not represent the crucifixion or the annunciation but could still be said to be of either the annunciation of the crucifixion type.