Frenhofer ou l’impossible retour de l’image

This study offers an Orphic reading of The Unknown Masterpiece, showing that, beyond the crisis of representation, Frenhofer’s quest is driven by a desire for presence. Through the pictorial flesh, the survival of Catherine Lescault’s foot, and Maurice Blanchot’s reflections on Eurydice, formlessness emerges as the paradoxical effect of a striving to bring forth the absolute image. Frenhofer thus appears as an Orpheus of painting, condemned to lose what he seeks to save.