DAT ART.
MIMESIS IN THE LOUVRE
Mimesis (
Ancient Greek: μίμησις (
mīmēsis), from μίμεῖσθαι (
mīmeisthai), “to imitate,” from μῖμος (
mimos), “imitator, actor”) is a
critical and
philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include:
imitation,
representation,
mimicry,
imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the
presentation of the self.
[1]
In
ancient Greece, mimesis was an ideal that governed the creation of works of art, in particular, with correspondence to the physical world understood as a model for
beauty,
truth and the good.
Plato contrasted mimesis, or imitation, with diegesis, or narrative. After Plato, the meaning of mimesis eventually shifted toward a specifically literary function in ancient Greek society, and its use has changed and been re-interpreted many times since then.