The mystic uses tradition only as a loose infrastructure upon which to hang his own revolutionary interpretation. The artist, like the mystic, plays a role in his society which is partly subversive. This connection of abstract art and mysticism is more than just a metaphor. Picasso said that to him, painting was magic whereby he combatted evil. The mystical antecedents of modern art are not western or monotheistic.
Modern art is shamanistic.
In its attempt to portray not the external, but the inner reality of things, it both performs and itself undergoes apotheosis. That is the meaning of art for art's sake. The object itself is imbued with magical properties, and so its value ascends toward pricelessness. Art has always been mixed in with religion because of the former's creative function. The ability to objectify anything that can be imagined has been invaluable to religion and, in our secular, humanistic world, has turned art into religion.