Aesthetics of the sublime from Lyotard's point of view (Case Study: Barnett Newman works)

From long before until now, sublimity along with beauty has been used to describe experiences such as infinity, fear, glory, death and etc. Among the scholars who have spoken about the subject of sublimity, Edmund Burke has altered the Western tradition of thought on beauty and sublimity, by distinguishing between the beautiful and the sublime. Kant has also devoted some parts of his book "Critique of Pure Reason" to studying the aesthetic experience of the sublime in an attempt to discover the fundamental foundations of experiencing pleasure and pain. Among contemporary philosophers, “Lyotard”, a French scholar and a prominent figure in postmodern philosophy, took Kant’s doctrine on sublimity and presented a new interpretation of it. He brought/introduced sublimity into the realm of cultural transformations and used it to describe postmodern society and the aesthetic experience of art. According to Lyotard, sublimity as an event can challenge the established linguistic games and break down the common rules and grand narratives of modernity.The present article intends to examine Lyotard’s point of view on sublimity with regard to his interpretation of the artworks of the famous artist Barnett Newman, to reveal the aesthetic aspect of sublime experience in his thoughts. It will also become apparent along the way why Lyotard has been called the sublime philosopher of postmodernity.