In physics, “The theory of the whole” is a theoretical development which connects microscopes and macrophanies with each other and is used for both the same cosmic and atomic scaling. For the American painter Alisa Margolis, this term can be applied both to the epic and banal as well as to the trashy and mystical side of the sublime in today’s life. In this first publication the emerging international artist presents her large picture archive as a visual essay in which she deals with the social and historical significance of transcendence. For painters like Margolis, all aspects of the creative process are solved and become your final product, but this often means that the research underlying the product is not adequately appreciated. With this book, Alisa Margolis re-immerses herself in the collection of images and material collected by her for many years to articulate fundamental questions. It does so in the form of a personal journey, which ranges from supernovae to the rock spectacle. The book is complemented by essays by the contemporary art critic Michele Robecchi and by a new text by the German philosopher Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, who, inspired by Margolis’s work, deals with the sublime and the art.