This paper traces the role of hermeticism and alchemy in the artistic production of conceptual poet Dmitry Prigov. Among the different cultural traditions that characterize his project, hermeticism plays a very important role, and especially alchemy, which provided Prigov with material at varying points throughout his artistic career. Through several examples taken both from Prigov’s verbal and visual works and from his theoretical texts, the aim of this article is to illustrate not only how the artist managed to use and modify motifs and themes relevant to the alchemical tradition, but also how he retrieved certain philosophical and aesthetic ideas of this hermetic doctrine. As a result, Prigov’s project should be considered a sort of alchemical “Great Work”, which responds to the need for a renewal of culture, the creation of a new concept of art and for a transformation of the role of the artist itself.
