The Origin of the Work of Art

The Origin of the Work of Art

Cover of the 1960 German edition
Author	Martin Heidegger
Original title	Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes
Language	German
Published	1950
Publication place	Germany
Preceded by	The Question Concerning Technology
Followed by	What Is Called Thinking?

"The Origin of the Work of Art" (German: Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes) is an essay by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Heidegger drafted the text between 1935 and 1937, reworking it for publication in 1950 and again in 1960. Heidegger based his essay on a series of lectures he had previously delivered in Zurich and Frankfurt during the 1930s, first on the essence of the work of art and then on the question of the meaning of a "thing", marking the philosopher's first lectures on the notion of art.