Aesthetics, before being the very character of art, is a fundamental fact of human sensitivity. The aesthetic feeling is a feeling of pleasure, which can be intensified into wonder and well-being. It can be provoked by a natural spectacle or a work of art but also through the objects or works that we aestheticize. Where does artistic creativity come from? What do we call inspiration or genius? From the trance of the shaman to the exercise of the poet, from the mimesis of the writer to that of the comedian, what is the lived experience of the artist? From Lascaux to Beethoven, from Dostoevsky to Orson Welles, in this essay Edgar Morin summons the works and artists who have marked and accompanied him to demonstrate the depth of the aesthetic experience. Great works are not only "entertainment", they also give us an understanding of the human condition, in their comedies and in their tragedies.