  We extend results of Looijenga-Lunts and Verbitsky and show that the total
Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$ for the intersection cohomology of a primitive
symplectic variety $X$ with isolated singularities is isomorphic to $$\mathfrak
g \cong \mathfrak{so}((IH^2(X, \mathbb Q), Q_X)\oplus \mathfrak h)$$ where
$Q_X$ is the intersection Beauville-Bogomolov-Fujiki form and $\mathfrak h$ is
a hyperbolic plane. Along the way, we study the structure of $IH^*(X, \mathbb
Q)$ as a $\mathfrak{g}$-representation -- with particular emphasis on the
Verbitsky component, multidimensional Kuga-Satake constructions, and
Mumford-Tate algebras -- and give some immediate applications concerning the $P
= W$ conjecture for primitive symplectic varieties.
