Le Chef-d'œuvre inutile. Arts Work published with the assistance

Work published with the assistance of the National Center for Scientific Research

are studied in this work

a trade commodity valued throughout the prehistoric Mediterranean

Daniel Arasse thus inspires a desire to see or re-see great moments in painting

University of California (Berkeley)

Le Chef-d'œuvre inutile. Arts Work published with the assistanceThe current use of the term masterpiece seems paradoxical. It is denied by the reality of art, which proceeds from a work producing pieces in series; decried by the times, which reject it as an anachronistic, if not antidemocratic, notion; distorted by the market, where it is used to designate the work of an artist that sells for the most money and yet, it persists in the form of a compass, a ne plus ultra, a supreme aesthetic experience: never have