Merleau-Ponty on painting, sedimentation, and the cultural world

Andrew Inkpin (University of Melbourne)

Abstract: A distinctive feature of Merleau-Ponty’s thought in the 1950s is his attempt to use painting as a model for the production and cultural transmission of meaning (sens) and hence as a central paradigm of both social and philosophical history. This model is based on his appropriation of Husserl’s closely related notions of sedimentation and institution (Stiftung) and revises Phenomenology of Perception’s earlier position, which took sedimentation to be characteristic of language in contrast to painting. This paper aims to expound and assess Merleau-Ponty’s attempt to apply these Husserlian notions to the practice of painting, which differs in important ways from that of geometry for which they were designed. To this end, I begin by reviewing Husserl’s conception of sedimentation in geometry, which provides Merleau-Ponty’s point of departure. I then track how Merleau-Ponty’s views evolve between the Phenomenology and his mid-period works to allow application of the idea of sedimentation to painting, as an embodied action that is to provide an alternative to geometry in understanding the constitution and transmission of cultural meanings. Having considered how the differences and resultant tension between Husserl’s and Merleau-Ponty’s views are to be understood and reconciled, I conclude by offering some thoughts about how the latter’s conception of the role of sedimentation in painting might be applied to other ‘cultural objects’.