Piero Manzoni (1933-1963) is considered an important pioneer of contemporary art movements. His art is characterized by concepts that manifest in the integration of life-related elements such as physicality, actions, and transience. Provocation, irony, and a pronounced interest in intra-artistic questions define his oeuvre. The present study focuses on the topos of art and life, a contemporary field of tension and a central aspect of Manzoni's work. The artist engages in discourse with the aim of critically assessing the position of art, using elements from the realm of life to deconstruct a traditional concept of art. Manzoni is not concerned with an aesthetic-artistic expression of liveliness, nor with political or social changes through art. Instead, he deliberately incorporates areas of life that were unknown in the art context around 1960 and had a provocative effect. With works that were consumed, such as his eggs, or with the piece Artist's Shit, the artist challenges common notions of art. In this way, the artwork appears as relativized. He exposes it to demythologization through the inclusion of physical life and transience. In contrast, Manzoni attributes constitutive significance to the role of the artist. He explicitly addresses the artist in the tradition of well-known myths that see him as a magician, shaman, creator god, or in the role of Christ. This fractured self-assessment confirms the artist in his outstanding and creative role. On this basis, Manzoni legitimizes his art, which negates binding aesthetic standards and allows areas of life to flow into art as an artistic concept.