Theory

Abstraction and Empathy

Worringer's pairing of two opposed psychological urges: the urge to empathy (organic, mimetic art, expressing confidence in the world) and the urge to abstraction (geometric, transcendental art, expressing anxiety before the world); building on Lipps's Einfühlung and Riegl's Kunstwollen.

Meaning Body Representation

Details

Introduced: 1908

Referenced by

The Architecture of Humanism: A Study in the History of Taste articulates
Abstraktion und Einfühlung: Ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie articulates
Wilhelm Worringer proposed

Sources

Worringer. Abstraktion und Einfühlung. 1908.

Cite this entry

First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026

CLAD. "Abstraction and Empathy." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/theory/abstraction-and-empathy/. Accessed July 17, 2026.