The modern artist defines art as a religion –art for art’s sake– and himself as a non-conformist opposed to the conventions of bourgeois society, although the truth is that art is an essential part of a market in luxury goods for which the bourgeoisie are the only clients. In marked contradiction to this, the life of the artist comes across as bohemian –in other words, someone who identifies with the finges of society. The modern artist comes across as a Gypsy (which in fact was the original meaning of the word ‘bohemian’), drifter or actor in a play featuring fools, visionaries or madmen, beings seemingly possessed, like him, by inspiration.