This study is an investigation into the communicative power of visual metaphor and the ways in which it is used by artists. A wide range of works of art are used to exemplify the theories presented. The first part of the thesis is a discussion of whether the term 'metaphor' can be used to describe some of the transformations which take place in visual art. It is shown that works of visual art produce similar kinds of displacement of meaning as those created in verbal metaphor. An idea for a theory of visual metaphor is put forward. Some applications of this theory to specific works of art are discussed. The 'ironic glance' which is characteristic of the artist and often of the viewer is identified and explained. Historical ideas of irony are placed in context with modern concepts. It is postulated that all creativity requires the artist to exercise irony in his or her initial view of the world; in making; and in the implicit assumption of a `putative audience'. A detailed discussion of examples of visual art selected predominantly from 1800 to the present shows that metaphorical expression takes place in many kinds of visual art, from the allegorical to the apparently abstract. A discussion of the interaction between artist and viewer follows. The concept of `distance' in the making and viewing of artworks is considered, particularly in connection with the idea of an ironic stance. The idea of the 'ironic glance' incorporates within it a sense of distance in all aspects of making and looking at art. The different ways in which artists communicate metaphorically are discussed. The importance of 'received' knowledge, especially in connection with the 'formal' elements of artworks and the individual viewer's 'mental store'. is considered. The way in which a viewer approaches art is explored' by showing the way that metaphor directs thought in a way which paradoxically both illuminates understanding and limits our view. The viewer's `mental store' allows him or her to understand some artworks and through this understanding approach other works. It is suggested that the directive nature of metaphor means that the artist, either consciously or subconsciously, has in mind a putative audience. Throughout, the thesis is supported by a broad range of reference. Similar ideas expressed by philosophers, critics, theorists of language, poets and artists are drawn together to support the formulation of new ideas linking metaphorical expression, irony and the relationship of an artist to the putative viewer.

Esta tese defende que a arte pode profanar o real ao produzir suas realidades poéticas. Ou seja: a criação artística detém a potência de destituir regimes de visibilidade, dizibilidade e pensabilidade, dando a eles novos usos e os devolvendo ao domínio dos homens. A principal questão é saber como isso ocorre. Quer dizer: quais são essas operações da arte capazes de desativar mecanismos de subjetivação ao mesmo tempo em que produzem outros? Como isso se realiza e que saberes pode-se recolher daí? Toda esta investigação parte da pintura Mapa de Lopo Homem II, de Adriana Varejão. Seguimos suas pistas na companhia de pensadores da arte, da ciência e da filosofia, com destaque para Georges Didi-Huberman, Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Lacan, Jacques Rancière, Jean Baudrillard e Hal Foster, de maneira a produzir uma teoria crítica que colabore com a interpretação da arte hoje, num viés estético e político. Se parece lugarcomum dizer que a arte produz transformações culturais, o ponto desta tese é ligeiramente diferente: saber como a experiência estética pode transgredir a simbolização, fazendo irromper significados que desconstruam estruturas culturais, atentando contra a idealização da realidade em seus valores morais, econômicos, sociais, intelectuais etc. Interessa a nós o aspecto inesperado da realização artística, seu teor de insurgência, seu flerte com o esquizo. Enfim, queremos olhar para o que pode haver de destrutivo, paradoxal ou desestruturante na elaboração poética promovida pela arte visual e que resistências se levantam contra o processo. Para isso, nos inspiramos no conceito de Real lacaniano. E dizemos que a conformação artística é o mapa que se traça sobre o território numa profanação do real: sistematização ficcional e ilusória, síntese posta como realidade, representação interpretativa necessariamente parcial, insuficiente, faltosa. Que não consegue ser viva como a experiência, mas a revive, recria, interpreta, representa e reapresenta, toma-a para si e formaliza, desenha contornos, acumula camadas, esquematiza estrategicamente conforme seus próprios jogos de poder. / This thesis argues that art can desecrate the Real by producing poetic realities. This means that artistic creation has the power of deposing regimens of the visible, speakable and thinkable, of giving them new uses and of returning them to the realm of men. The main question is knowing how this happens. Which operations of art may deactivate some mechanisms of subjectivation at the same time that they produce others? How does this happen, and what knowledge can be acquired from that process? All this research originates from the painting Map of Lopo Homem II, by Adriana Varejão. We followed the paintings hints in the company of thinkers from the arts, sciences and philosophy fields, with special mention to Georges Didi-Huberman, Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Lacan, Jacques Rancière, Jean Baudrillard and Hal Foster, in order to produce a critical theory that could collaborate with the interpretation of art today, in an aesthetical and political point of view. If it seems commonplace to say that art produces cultural transformations, the point of this thesis is slightly different: it is to learn how the aesthetic experience can transgress symbolization, bursting meanings that deconstruct cultural structures, attacking the idealization of reality in its moral, economic, social, intellectual values, etc. We are interested in the unexpected aspect of artistic achievement, its insurgency content, its flirtation with the schizo. We want to look at what can be destructive, paradoxical or destructuring in the poetic elaboration promoted by visual art and which resistances arise against the process. For this, we are inspired by the Lacanian concept of the Real. And we say that the artistic conformation is the map drawn on the territory in a profanation of the real: fictional and illusory systematization, synthesis put as reality, necessarily partial interpretative representation, insufficient, lacking. That cannot be alive as an experience, but revives it, recreates it, interprets it, represents it and resubmit it, takes and formalizes it, draws contours, accumulates layers and strategically schematizes according to its own power plays.