As an art form, the tattoo is as ephemeral as life itself. It disappears along with the person who bears it. Cave paintings, sculptures, and architectural works all have a longer life span and transmit the culture of civilizations that have vanished.

A tattoo always raises questions that do not so much concern the technique but rather the meaning and purpose of the tattoo. The latter is the most important aspect of the subject which is usually incorrectly described or not all. Even important ethnographic works on the history of the tattoos of primitive peoples living in distant corners of the globe only describe certain aspects of the world of the tattoo. And yet, as Darwin observed: "There is no nation on earth that does not know this phenomenon."