emportait

Emportait is a term used in some strands of contemporary art criticism to describe a portrait work designed to transport the viewer beyond the surface likeness of the sitter. Rather than focusing solely on accurate representation, emportait emphasizes mood, narrative implication, and atmospheric cues intended to immerse the viewer in the subject's imagined world or emotional state.

The word appears to derive from the French emporter (to carry away); emportait is the imperfect form, suggesting a process or ongoing action of carrying the viewer away. In practice, emportait works may combine painting, photography, video, or interactive media, along with lighting, color schemes, and contextual elements that invite storytelling.

In criticism, emportait is not widely standardized; its usage is informal and sometimes conflated with related ideas such as psychological portraiture or the phenomenology of seeing. Proponents argue it highlights the phenomenological experience of looking at a portrait, while critics caution that the term can be vague. Notable discussions occur in online art journals and artist statements from the 2020s, but there is no consensus on a formal definition or canonical examples. See also: portraiture, ekphrasis, viewer engagement.