Pathosformel

It is described as "the primitive words of passionate gesture language"[1] and the "emotionally charged visual trope[s][2] that recur throughout images in Western Europe.

While the term is associated with formalism, Warburg restricts the concept to cultural-psychological themes, as he held "an honest disgust of aestheticizing art history".

"[3] The art historian Ernst Gombrich, described pathosformel as "the primeval reaction of man to the universal hardships of his existence [that] underlies all his attempts at mental orientation".

[3] His dissertation, completed in 1893, presents an early formulation of the concept in comparing Botticelli's Birth of Venus with Primavera by looking at the bewegtes Beiwerk or "animated incident" that appears among them.

[7] Pathosformel is closely related to, albeit distinct from Robert Vischer's notion of empathy (Einfühlung), which Warburg refers to as the "force active in the generation of style".