Perceived mainly as an impossibility of transcending, the limit is called into question by Heidegger's thinking in a paradoxical way. The Greek concept of "perns" is not understood in the sense of missing, of edge or something that adds to the being from the exterior. It is precisely what defines the being, provides context, determinations, and opens it towards being, towards reaching the presence. The limit reveals its contradictory dimension in that something must first come to an end, and then begin to exist. The intuition of this accomplishment achieved by reaching the limit was permanently felt by the human being, standing witness many attempts to overcome it. Contemporary art knows many examples in which the body becomes the very fabric of the artist, a fabric pushed towards its different limits in manifestations that not once have wished to be challenging. These attempts to force the boundaries have not always materialized into a spiritual dimension, as Heidegger thought. The present analysis aims to bring up three of these artistic examples where the body as artistic limit and purpose are perceived in very different ways, from the proud assertion of possessing one's own body to sublimating one's mystical experience. The first case in this process can be exemplified by Orlan's art, an artist for whom the aesthetic material is her own body. Her art works were composed mainly of live broadcasted surgery interventions. In her attempt to identify the corporeality with identity and to permanently change this identity one can have a glimpse of the negative discourse of Christian religious values, from the relative character of the concept of beauty or irony of Baroque religious works to using religious terminology itself to describe her different acts. Another example in contemporary art in which the body is pushed to all kinds of limits is offered by Marina Abramovic, who forces the physical, psychical or mental possibilities, thus retrieving a spiritual dimension of the artistic act. Her "performances" often have purification meanings, aimed at raising awareness or eliminating evil and cleansing the body and the consciousness. A third phase of corporeality in the present art is represented by Bill Viola, an artist deeply influenced by Christian mysticism texts, in whose art the body becomes a ship which goes across life and a spiritualized body. Biblical lines or characters, as well as medieval iconography, are sources of inspiration for this artistic endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]