The Madonna of the Future finds Danto at the point where all the vectors of the art world intersect: those of traditional painting, Pop art, mixed media, and installation art; those of art and philosophy; those of the specialist who brings theory to bear on the work and the viewer who appreciates it primarily visually.

Arthur C. Danto is Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Columbia University and art critic for The Nation. Among his many books are Playing with the Edge: The Photographic Achievement of Robert Mapplethorpe (1995), Connections to the World: The Basic Concepts of Philosophy (1997), Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective (1998), and Philosophizing Art (1999), all from California.