Art was about beauty. For many hundreds of years, trying to capture beauty and seeing the good in the world around us. Even Monet and Van Gogh were attempting to capture that, and to a certain degree Picasso (admittedly his warped perception of beauty, but then again, everyone's perception of beauty differs, so you could argue there's no right or wrong, and no beautiful/ugly)
But from Picasso, Duchamp, Kandisnky, to Mondrian, Bacon and everyone onward was all about shock. Increasingly so as the years go on. Personally find it hugely distasteful.
To actively try and create beauty is like trying to write a good book, to add niceness, joy in the world. To try and create shock, and ill-feeling, is akin to graffiti (hmm.. Bansky, anyone?_, to actively insulting someone elderly. Any idiot can create shock, and split opinion.
Set fire to a poppy, kill someone of opposite religion, weigh some people, cultures or diability above others, throw acid in someones face, whatever. It's not hard to create 'shock', and sadly that's all 'art' is, by and large.
I've got this on my wall at home...

Of course opinion is opinion, and many would see this as boring, simple, but for my eyes this is beauty and talent
