Turning to the idea of art, the twentieth cen- tury faced the problem of the sublime and sacrificial. The artistic object, beyond the limits of the everyday, actualizes the principle of sacred. The system of the work - inviolable, nonfunctional and distanced from the world of the ordinary, brought the concept of art together with the idea of the victim. An object or work of art based on the principle of non-monetary economy finds its analogies in a symbolic and sacrificial form. Art reveals the importance of symbolic meaning, which is recognized as a manifestation of sacred: awareness of the sacrificial basis allows to perceive the object within the artistic system and to identify its ar- tistic status. Within the framework of the article, are examined the features of the functioning of work of art and of an object in the culture of 20th century and of New Times. Besides, article analyses the characteristic of sacrificial form.