This chapter provides a brief historical review of the philosophy of the image and a basic introduction to phenomenology. It then discusses how the phenomenological aesthetics of Hans-Georg Gadamer opens up a new way of understanding the artwork: it can present the truth of the original more clearly. This is demonstrated through examples of figurative art in general and the portrait in particular. In addition to Gadamer’s insights into the nature of an image, Gadamer also provides a new way of understanding mediation. I draw out this insight through the metaphor of sonic resonation, where finite limits need not be seen as the negative constraint of containment, but a positive condition for a particular voice, whose uniqueness adds to the symphonic beauty of the whole.