From Sympathy to Empathy: Baudelaire, Vischer, and Early Modernism

While often regarded as similar, the difference between sympathetic and empathetic identification is essential in the so-called “expressivist turn” that took place in early modernism. This essay argues that the deep connection between Baudelaire’s rebellion against realism and German aesthetician Robert Vischer’s concept of Einfühlung, or “in-feeling,” has not been explored sufficiently and can shed light on modernism’s distinctive identity and the deep perceptual changes that underscore its innovations.