Generating knowledge, reflecting, and promoting understanding - images have many functions. Their informative value has grown considerably, and visual communication is just as relevant in art, entertainment, or advertising as it is in the natural sciences or philosophy. The textbook "The Image" discusses the questions of what an image is, how it can be understood, viewed, or researched, but also what political and economic implications can be associated with it. Concepts and ways of looking at things - topics and perspectives include the history of image media and image functions, image research between high art and popular culture, and forms, colors, and lines. Access to pictorial contexts covers political representation, science, market combinations, oppositions, original and model images, series and comparisons, text and image diagrams, space, movement, and visual techniques of the overview.