Résumé en anglais

Gide's relations to visual representations are as rich as complex. They pervade the whole work and are expressed through an aesthetics of division. Thus, the image whitch appears to fulfil an informative function at first, seems to evolve within the "life-work" of a protean writer, to give way to a confused reality, to get deeper and to become more and more significant. Gide presents the reader with a fragmentary view of this unique and unchanging medium that the eye identifies easily and unequivocally. Out of a transparent and homogeneous pane, he develops a rich mosaic of colours, shapes and possibilities. The limits of this kaleidoscopic vision do exist though and trouble the observer's clear conscience. Seeing is indeed a personal and intimate experience which leads to introspection through double and mirror effects. In Gide’s work, this profound self-knowledge is just a means to open the door to the world of beings and things. Once one has realized the disappointing limits and contradictions of any physical glance, the subtle ethic of the Gidian image is brought to light : the blindness gives way to the vision of the perceptive mind which proves to be the only one that is not misled by appearences. The real glance is the one that never settles definitely. It is nomadic and pertains to the observer who never stops questionning what it truly sees.