Le ombre e il sogno. Percepire, immaginare, raffigurare

Aim of this paper is to shed light on the role of imagination in our reception of pictures. In the contemporary debate many scholars have maintained that we need imagination in order to grasp what pictures depict. I deem this solution as untenable and I refuse it, ar-guing against four theses which seem to justify it. As a conclusion, I claim that the imaginative dimension is called into play not by the concept of depiction as such, but only by the use we make of depictions when we are willing to take part in the game they propose-