Is the sacred an inalienable part of culture, or can the religious need be suppressed or replaced by other satisfactions?
Excerpts from Leszek Kolakowski's essay "The Revenge of the Sacred in Profane Culture", 1973
Music:
Salve Regina, adapted by Arvo Pärt.
Artwork:
Nikita Pustosviat. Dispute on the Confession of Faith - Vasily Perov, 1881
Poème de l'âme 10: Première Communion - Louis Janmot
Coronation of the Virgin - Diego Velazquez, 1641-1644
The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon and the Coronation of the Empress Josephine by Pope Pius VII - Jacques-Louis David, 1807
The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist - Sandro Botticelli
Eve After the Fall - Alexandre Cabanel
The Union of Earth and Water - Pieter Paul Rubens
The Tiger Hunt - Peter Paul Rubens
La Liberté guidant le peuple - Eugène Delacroix
Haywain Triptych (left, center and right panel details) - Hieronymous Bosch
Liberation of St. Peter - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Daedalus and Icarus - Orazio Riminaldi
Angel Executions - Odilon Redon, 1890
Garden of Earthly Delights (right panel detail) - Hieronymous Bosch
Path of Silence - Františec Kupka, 1902
The Flight of Icarus - Jacob Peter Gowy
The Skeletons (detail) - Agostino Musi, 1518
Saturn Devouring His Son - Francisco Goya, 1823
The Stone Operation / The Extraction of the Stone Madness / The Cure of Folly - Hieronymous Bosch
The Chessplayer - Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch
Saint Francis in Meditation - Francisco de Zurbarán
Madonna del Magnificat - Sandro Botticelli
Early Sundy Morning - Edward Hopper, 1930
Eleven A.M. - Edward Hopper
After the Battle - Paul Nash, 1918
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