In red and black: the dark shadow of evil. Nature and aesthetics of the Devil

Abstract

To understand the representation of beings, it is necessary to know their nature in depth. In a way, form and color are the visible gesture of an invisible essence. Material beings possess an ontological condition that facilitates their perception since they are formed by a matter that has a certain external aspect and thus a volumetric and chromatic configuration. But what happens with those beings whose nature is purely spiritual? Can a being be represented that is not a material being, that is to say, that lacks extension, a 'hyle'? It is precisely there that the aesthetic dimension becomes an avenue that aids the understanding of metaphysics and even of theology; it is there that art comes to the aid of philosophy; it is there that the capacity to imagine allies itself with a whole set of facts, beliefs and ideas to convert what might appear to be something absolutely opaque into a perceptible experience. But there is a more arduous enigma that appears when we try to find the shape and color of evil, of the Evil One and of the spirits that second him.