The Life of a Picture

In a remark printed in the so-called « second part » of his Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein says that « a picture does not always live for me while I am seeing it » (p. 205 of the old English edition). This observation is puzzling. But as soon as one attempts to solve the puzzle, various connections with other thoughts characteristic of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy come to light. Perhaps the most obvious one concerns the notion of « the life of a sign » [cf. my paper « The Life of the Sign », in : Gibson & Huemer (eds.), The Literary Wittgenstein, London : Routledge, 2004, pp. 146-164]. In the paper for Paris, I want to do three things : (1) give a synoptic account of various uses of « Bild » in Wittgenstein's later thought ; (2) look into the idea of a connection between the life of signs and the life of 5 pictures ; (3) find out whether pictures – or, perhaps, specific kinds of pictures – are of particular importance in the context of his later philosophy of psychology.