Apophatisme et non-dualité dans le Vedānta et chez Ad Reinhardt

Abstract

Apophatism and Non-duality in the Vedanta and in Ad Reinhardt's work The Ultimate Paintings, a series of abstractions made by Ad Reinhardt during the 1960s, are coupled with writings with obvious affinities to the apophatic formulas of the commentaries of the Upanishads (the philosophical conclusions of the Vedas) known as the “nondual Vedānta” (Advaita Vedānta). The abstractions themselves refer to the model of the yantra, the geometrical diagram into which Brahmanic iconography is supposed to subside. In this instance, the apophasis defeats the attempt to signify through painting and language what constitutes itself in painting and language.