Images de pensée: A Survey of Diagrams and Sketches from the 13th to 21st Century

The book 'Images de pensée' by Marie-Haude Caraës and Nicole Marchand-Zanartu, published by Éditions RMN, presents a heterogeneous collection of sketches, diagrams, plans, and figures spanning from the 13th to the 21st century. The corpus includes works by Montgolfier, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Douglas Kentridge, René Descartes, Charles Darwin, Dziga Vertov, and Joseph Beuys. Each document is reproduced on a single or double page with a descriptive note. The book avoids didacticism and invites readers to decipher these 'thought images,' which are defined by four criteria: a system of relational signs, absolute singularity, a process of knowledge, and presence across all fields of knowledge. A postface by Jean Lauxerois traces the term 'Denkbild' from Stefan George to Walter Benjamin, and discusses the philosophical discourse on imagination from Kant onward. The book argues that thought images are not mere mnemonic aids but manifestations of the 'figural life of thought,' produced through a schematism that bridges science and art.