In “Abstraction and Empathy,” Worringer defines creative pleasure as essential to the human experience. He traces its origins back to the oldest known artworks created by human hands. Most importantly, he notes that some of those ancient artworks mimic reality, but most do not. Worringer's classic study argues that in historical periods of anxiety and uncertainty, man seeks to abstract objects from their unpredictable state and transform them into absolute, transcendental forms.
