This article deals with what today can be called the theory of the atmosphere. The focus is on the concept of atmosphere, which Gernot Böhme (1993; 1995; 2006; 2017) developed as the fundamental concept and central object of his “new aesthetics”, following on from his “ecological aesthetics”(1989). In it he defines atmospheres as a typical intermediate phenomenon. In the following descriptions of the concept of atmosphere, reference is made from the outset to its potential application–in two main fields, namely aesthetics and art appreciation on the one hand and aesthetics of nature or environmental aesthetics on the other.