Si le texte évangélique de l’Apocalypse est une des thématiques les plus représentées en histoire de l’art, ce n’est pas tant pour faire allégeance au texte sacré que pour sa représentation : celle de l’humanité en tant que telle. Véritable mise à nu (selon l’étymologie grecque), l’Apocalypse ouvre au peintre les portes d’un miroir psychologique infini. Et de poser la véritable question de sens, intrinsèque à toute condition humaine, celle de l’existence. C’est pourquoi des églises romanes jusqu’aux artistes contemporains tels que Bacon ou Cattelan, non sans oublier les Expressionnistes, ce livre revisite l’esthétique de la souffrance à travers les plus beaux chefs-d’oeuvre.

The Paranormal, the new ebook series from F+W Media International Ltd, resurrecting rare titles, classic publications and out-of-print texts, as well as new ebook titles on the supernatural – other-worldly books for the digital age. The series includes a range of paranormal subjects from angels, fairies and UFOs to near-death experiences, vampires, ghosts and witchcraft. Written across half a century, Flammarion seeks answers to the questions; Is not spirit superior to matter? What is our true nature? What is our future destiny? Are we merely ephemeral flames shining an instant to be forever extinguished? Flammarion has undertaken laborious research primarily in order to answer the questions of sorrowing hearts, seen here as reproduced letters.

The final book of the Bible, known both as The Book of Revelation and The Apocalypse of John, is a prophesy of the events that will occur at the end of time. During the Middle Ages, in a society which held a deep belief in God and was mainly ruled by religious authorities, this apocalyptic theme recurs in art, through various media, including tapestries, illuminations, sculpture, and painting. This book pools the most famous pieces of art inspired by this theme, such as the Apocalypse drapery from Angers Cathedral, the carved tympanum of the Autun Cathedral, and the fresco in Albi Cathedral. The theme of the Apocalypse was a means to impress minds, whilst also allowing artists to develop their imaginations; its symbolic content allowing for many different interpretations.

 "I do not conceal from myself the consequences of such sincerity. It requires a good deal of boldness to insist on affirming, in the name of positive science, the POSSIBILITY of these phenomena (wrongly styled supernatural), and to constitute one's self the champion of a cause apparently ridiculous, absurd, and dangerous, knowing, at the same time, that the avowed adherents of said cause have little standing in science, and that even its eminent partisans only venture to speak of their approval of it with bated breath. However, since the matter has just been treated momentarily in fugitive writings by a group of journalists whose exacting labors wholly forbid a study of the psychic and physical forces; and since, of all this multitude of writers, the greater part have only heaped error upon error, puerility upon extravagance; and since it appears from every page they have written (I hope they will pardon me) that not only are they ignorant of the very a, b, c of the subject they have so fantastically treated, but their opinions upon this class of facts rest upon no basis whatever,—therefore I have thought it would serve a purpose if I should leave, as a souvenir of the long wrangle, a piece of writing better based and buttressed than the lucubrations of the above-mentioned gentlemen. As a lover of truth, I am willing to face a thousand reproaches. Be it distinctly understood that I do not for a moment deem my judgment superior to that of my confrères, some of whom are in other respects highly gifted. The simple fact is that they are not familiar with this subject, but are straying in it at random, wandering through a strange region. They misunderstand the very terminology, and imagine that facts long ago well authenticated are impossible. By way of contrast, the writer of these lines will state that for several years he has been engaged in discussions and experiments upon the subject. (I am not speaking of historical studies.)

"Moreover, although the old saw would have us believe that 'it is not always desirable to state the truth,' yet, to speak frankly, I am so indignant at the overweening presumption of certain polemical opponents, and at the gall they have injected into the debate, that I do not hesitate to rise and point out to the deceived public that, without a single exception, all the arguments brought up by these writers, and upon which they have boldly planted their banner of victory, prove absolutely nothing, NOTHING, against the possible truth of the things which they, in the fury of their denial, have so perverted. Such a snarl of opinions must be analyzed. In brief, the true must be disentangled from the false. Veritas, veritas!"

Camille Flammarion, astrónomo colaborador del Observatorio de Paris a mediados del siglo XIX, comienza esta obra de divulgación diciendo " ¿Qué es el cielo? ... el cielo es cuanto existe, es el inmenso espacio que encierra todo, es el ejército de estrellas de las que cada una es un sol; es el sistema del mundo; es Júpiter, Saturno, Marte; es la estrella del Pastor que irradia en el crepúsculo; es la Luna que vierte su silenciosa luz; es el Sol que ilumina, calienta, electriza y fecunda las plantas; es la Tierra misma ... luego el cielo lo es todo."