There is an astonishing line of creative inspiration that connects the philosophy of Sufism, the Middle Eastern art of miniature painting, the work of 20 th -century artists like Henri Matisse, and the phenomenology of thinkers like Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The Veil of Depiction traces this line, demonstrating the historical continuity and the philosophical common ground between the traditions in question. The book concludes by combining Sufism and phenomenology to propose a whole new way of looking at art.