Glance and Space as Heterotopy in Manet’s Painting: a look on Foucault’s interpretation

Abstract

This article demonstrates the heterotopic dimension of glance and space in Manet’s painting. Space, as conceived by Foucault, is constituted as power-knowledge, and glance, as defined by Manet’s painting, reveals heterotopies. The methodology consisted in the selection and critical analysis of Foucault’s texts on Manet’s painting and the heterotopia plus bibliography of Foucault readers focused on the analysis of painting, art and heterotopia. The rarity of the systematic reflection of the Foucauldian reflections on painting and the space conceived as different space makes the demonstration of the interweaving between the space produced by Manet’s paintings and heterotopia configure novelty in the literature dedicated to the thinker. We conclude by indicating how the aesthetic discussions are inextricably linked to the analysis of power. This path that Foucault indicates, for example, that the experience of Bataillean`s transgression of gaze evidences the condition of the pictorial visuality of Manet’s canvas. The visibility of the political effects of space and other effects as well as of artistic production paves the way to sketch new understandings of the relationships of bodies with spatial roots and their unique subjective unfoldings.

Keywords:
Michel Foucault; Glance; Space; Édouard Manet; Heterotopy