La mirada privilegiada: esoterismo y misticismo en la pintura novohispana
Isabel González García
Estudios February 18, 2026 DOI: 10.15517/2xjare86 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Keywords | Painting Context archaeology The symbolic Realm Rendering computer graphics Aesthetics Art history Aesthetic experience Visual arts |
| Key points | Argues that eighteenth-century mystical paintings from Puebla functioned as mediating devices between the human and the divine by rendering mystical experience visible and communicable through shared esoteric and mystical codes. |
Abstract
This article analyzes a mystical-themed painting produced in eighteenth-century Puebla by considering the possibility of characterizing its context of production as an esoteric field. The theoretical framework is grounded in the criteria of Western esotericism proposed by Antoine Faivre, in dialogue with William James’s notion of mystical experience and with Victor Stoichita’s studies on visionary imagery. From an art-historical perspective, the study undertakes an iconological–hermeneutic visual analysis focused on representational strategies that articulate gesture, imagination, and symbolic mediation. The article proposes to understand these paintings as sites of convergence between mysticism and esotericism, giving rise to image-documents capable of rendering mystical experience visible, communicable, and socially legible through codes shared by mystics and painters. It concludes that this type of imagery fed back into the cultural and religious horizon of its context of production by functioning as mediating devices between the human and the divin.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |