ABSTRACT
After revisiting Wollheim's account of 'seeing-in', this chapter examines theory of emotion in relation to aspects of his aesthetics including imagination, expression, appreciation and value. It argues that seeing-in is neither particularly interesting nor central to Wollheim's views or to what is valuable and lasting in aesthetics. But the fact that imagination can lead us astray, does lead us astray and can result in misinterpretation, self-deception and wish-fulfilling phantasy on the part of the spectator does nothing to show that it is not essential to a more or less correct perception, appreciation and understanding of a painting. Wollheim succinctly describes the function of emotion what emotion does, very broadly, how it does it. Wollheim, like Freud, sees art in terms of psychoanalysis, as deeply integral to a life rather than shallowly in terms of the isolated concepts representation and expression that analytic philosophers tend to employ.
