Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that a certain connection between 'seeing'and 'Being' can be traced within the later work of Merleau-Ponty. It is argued that a theory of seeing which is developed from a radical phenomenological point of view is nota confirmation, but rather a critique of Western representational ontology. The centralprinciple of this critique is formed by the notion of reversibility. By means of the reversible relation between the seer and the seen, and between the visible and the invisible — which is situated within seeing itself —, the traditional opposition between subject and object is abolished and 'Being' loses its alleged meaning of 'presence' and 'unity'. One could say that the meaning of 'seeing' evades the (traditional) philosophicaldiscourse. Therefore, philosophy should consult the practice of the artist, particularly painting. Merleau-Ponty's analysis of painting embodies a profound critique of representational thought, yet at the same time, it shows that this kind of critique does not reject every form of 'giving meaning' or intentionality. The work of art is simultaneously a (bodily) expression and the revelation of the meaning of Being itself. The fission of Being, the elusive visibility, reveals itself in a painting, which could only be made because the painter put into service his or her aesthetic body