One of the aims of this essay is to explain the poor reputation of matter in Western architecture and art, traversing various eras and authors to assemble the many arguments that have repeatedly rewritten the long-standing thesis that matter is confused, formless, irrational, dark, Dionysian, and even violent, while the purpose of art is to render it precise, formed, rational, luminous, Apollonian, and peaceful. Yet this essay also seeks to grant matter the aesthetic dignity it deserves and to glimpse its enigmatic depths.
