Religious experience and artistic experience cross each other since the beginning of the history of humanity. Different authors analyze precisely the link between these two experiences. Julien Ries traces the prehistory from the origins of humanity, crossing the Palaeolithic with the great rock art and reaching the sedentarization of man and the birth of agriculture and Gods. Man is symbolic from the beginning and the symbol leads humanity to art. Michel Delahoutre analyzes the splendor of the Buddha and how Buddhism, born aniconic, has then proposed an art that has invaded the Far East, in which the fi gure of the Buddha becomes central even in its most diverse manifestations. Jean Varenne describes the paradox of Hinduism, a family religion that did not need art but which, by popular demand of festivity, produced monumental art. Jacqueline Lafontaine-Dosogne analyzes the most impressive and complete artistic expression of the beginnings of Christianity, accepted by the Roman Empire: the mosaic apses. The Byzantine world will bring this legacy to the highest levels of expression. Olivier Clément finally brings us to the miracle of icons. A phenomenon in which artistic and religious experience are indissoluble: beauty and mystic tension. Clément concludes with a still life by Cezanne