Charles Sahuguet, painter
Symbol, symbolic language and symbolism
Symbolism is a form of thought (or thought vision) that is used in myths.
The myth itself is a narrative that tells what the symbol shows, just as the latter illustrates, as far as is possible, what the myth is recounting.
Hence their interdependence, but not their identity.
Symbolic system, as a domain of the image, falls under plastic arts, which turn to anecdotes when they want to tell rather than reveal...
The function of the symbol is to link the divine and the human, the high and the low.
It is either an example of hierophany that reveals a sacred or cosmological reality that cannot be signified by any other means, or of theophany that attests to the reality of the Divine Presence...
Something that is not of this world bursts into the world by means of the symbol.
In itself a sign, word or image, the symbol bears witness to the Absolute.
A mystery is expressed in and through the symbol - and once removed from the realm of the Absolute, the symbol becomes dull and devoid of meaning.
Symbols are not about reality, but about truth.
Extracts from various texts written by Charles Sahuguet.
