This paper deals with the ontogenesis of the plastic image in its different pxychobiological aspects, in the background of the symbolization process. A reference is made to the maturing of perceptive processes, including the developments of Spitz, Wallon, Melanie Klein and Fontana. The analysis of the neurophysiological correlations of the image formation process is followed by a study of the functional role of the image in psychic dynamics, its genetic relationship with sensation and speech, its role in the communication functions, in the structuring of the relationship between the internal and the external world. The symbolizing faculty of the image is shown in the fact that it connects the body, the emotions and the sensations with the objects visually perceived, and makes up a unit with all that. According with the principle of genetic continuity, the effect of disturbances in the image formation process on speech is studied, and the way this is reflected in the forms of connexion and in the characteristic discourse of the different psychopathological structures. The image as a confluence of corporal and affective sensations constitutes a basic support in the projective identification process and in the problems of fusion-differentiation with the object as something external, the predominance of the image or of that which is perceived. The items in this paper offer a detailed description of the earliest stages of development, and is completed with references to aspects in the history of man and of culture where an evidence can be found of the role of the image insofar it reflects a certain orden in human dimensions in time and space.