Upon his acceptance of the Pritzker Prize in 1980, architect Luis Barragán said,

"It is alarming that publications devoted to architecture have banished from their pages the words Beauty, Inspiration, Magic, Spellbound, Enchantment, as well as the concepts of Serenity, Silence, Intimacy and Amazement."

By extension, the same still applies to much of contemporary art.

In his foreword to Barragán's work, architect Álvaro Siza wrote in 1994:

"No innovation ever abandons ancient reason.
There is no such thing as innovation.
There is a rediscovery of innocence, a capturing of the State of Grace, so that it is not lost from Memory."

And, somewhat unexpectedly, Pope Leo XIV addressed artists and curators on Oct 2, 2026 in the Vatican, saying,

"art nurtures the fundamental posture of listening, through which we can learn about humanity's aspirations and wounds, our thirst for beauty, justice and peace, and our search for meaning".