A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, literally 'total artwork', translated as 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. The term is a German

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because ...

accepted in English as a term in

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

Background

The term was developed by the German writer and philosopher K. F. E. Trahndorff in his 1827 essay ''Ästhetik oder Lehre von Weltanschauung und Kunst'' (or 'Aesthetics, or Theory of Philosophy of Art'). The German opera composer

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

used the term in two 1849 essays, and the word has become particularly associated with his aesthetic ideals. It is unclear whether Wagner knew of Trahndorff's essay. In the 20th century, some writers applied the term to some forms of architecture, while others applied it to film and mass media.For discussions of architecture as Gesamtkunstwerk, see the relevant section of this article. For discussions of film and mass media, see for instance Matthew Wilson Smith, ''The Total Work of Art: From Bayreuth to Cyberspace.'' New York: Routledge, 2007; Carolyn Birdsall, ''Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology, and Urban Space in Germany, 1933–1945.'' Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012. pp. 141–72; and Jeongwon Joe, 'Introduction: Why Wagner and Cinema? Tolkien Was Wrong.' In ''Wagner and Cinema,'' edited by Jeongwon Joe and Sander L. Gilman, 1–26. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2010.

In opera

Before Wagner

Some elements of opera had begun seeking a more 'classical' formula at the end of the 18th century. After the lengthy domination of

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called '' dramma per musica'' or '' melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to ...

and the '' da capo aria'', a movement began to advance the

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

and the composer in relation to the singers, and to return the drama to a more intense and less moralistic focus. This movement, 'reform opera', is primarily associated with

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

and

Ranieri de' Calzabigi Ranieri de' Calzabigi (; 23 December 1714 – July 1795) was an Italian poet and librettist, most famous for his collaboration with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on his "reform" operas. Born in Livorno, Calzabigi spent the 1750s in Paris, ...

. The themes in the operas produced by Gluck's collaborations with Calzabigi continue throughout the operas of

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

, until Wagner, rejecting both the Italian ''

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

'' tradition and the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

'spectacle opera', developed his union of music, drama, theatrical effects, and occasionally dance. However, these trends had developed fortuitously, rather than in response to a specific philosophy of art. Wagner, who recognised the reforms of Gluck and admired the works of Weber, originally wished to consolidate his view as part of his radical social and political views of the late 1840s. Previous to Wagner, others had expressed ideas about union of the arts, which was a familiar topic among German Romantics, as evidenced by the title of Trahndorff's essay, 'Aesthetics, or Theory of Philosophy of Art'. Others who wrote on syntheses of the arts included

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the develop ...

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in B ...

and

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure o ...

.Millington (n.d.)

's enthusiastic review of E.T.A. Hoffmann's opera '' Undine'' (1816) admired it as 'an art work complete in itself, in which partial contributions of the related and collaborating arts blend together, disappear, and, in disappearing, somehow form a new world'.

Wagner's ideas

Wagner used the exact term ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (which he spelt 'Gesammtkunstwerk') on only two occasions, in his 1849 essays ' Art and Revolution' and ' The Artwork of the Future', where he speaks of his ideal of unifying all works of art via the theatre. He also used in these essays many similar expressions such as 'the consummate artwork of the future' and 'the integrated drama', and frequently referred to 'Gesamtkunst'. Such a work of art was to be the clearest and most profound expression of folk legend. Wagner felt that the Greek tragedies of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Gree ...

had been the finest (though still flawed) examples so far of total artistic synthesis, but that this synthesis had subsequently been corrupted by

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...

. Wagner felt that during the rest of human history up to the present day (i.e. 1850) the arts had drifted further and further apart, resulting in such 'monstrosities' as

Grand Opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

. Wagner felt that such works celebrated bravura singing, sensational stage effects, and meaningless plots. In 'Art and Revolution', Wagner applies the term ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' in the context of Greek tragedy. In 'The Art-Work of the Future', he uses it to apply to his own, as yet unrealized, ideal. In his extensive book '' Opera and Drama'' (completed in 1851), Wagner takes these ideas further, describing in detail his idea of the union of opera and drama (later called ''music drama'' despite Wagner's disapproval of the term), in which the individual arts are subordinated to a common purpose. Wagner's own opera cycle ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...

'', specifically its components ''

Das Rheingold ''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National ...

'' and ''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...

'', represent perhaps the closest he, or anyone else, came to realizing these ideals. After this stage, Wagner came to relax his own strictures and write more conventionally 'operatically'.

Arts and Crafts movement

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

(1834–1896), a British textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist, was associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement and largely influenced by the ideas of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, who believed that industrialization led to a qualitative decline in artistically crafted goods. Morris believed a home must nurture harmony as well as infuse its inhabitants with a creative energy. The quote 'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful' epitomized Morris' way of living of ''Gesamtkunstwerk''. Morris' and Philip Webb's Red House, designed in 1859, is a major example, as well as the

Blackwell House Blackwell House is a historic house on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The house's name comes from Jacob Blackwell, who built the house in 1796. He was the great-grandson of Robert Blackwell, who in 1686 took ownership of what was then known ...

in the

English Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordsw ...

, designed by

Baillie Scott Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (23 October 1865 – 10 February 1945) was a British architect and artist. Through his long career, he designed in a variety of styles, including a style derived from the Tudor, an Arts and Crafts style reminisc ...

was built in 1898–1900, as a holiday home for Sir Edward Holt, a wealthy Manchester brewer. It is situated near the town of Bowness-on-Windermere with views looking over Windermere and across to the Coniston Fells.

In architecture

Some architectural writers have used the term ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' to signify circumstances where an architect is responsible for the design and/or overseeing of the building's totality: shell, accessories, furnishings, and landscape. It is difficult to make a claim for when the term ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' was first used to refer to a building and its contents (although the term itself was not used in this context until the late 20th century); already during the Renaissance, artists such as

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

saw no strict division in their tasks between architecture, interior design, sculpture, painting and even engineering. Historian Robert L. Delevoy has argued that Art Nouveau represented an essentially decorative trend that thus lent itself to the idea of the architectural ''Gesamtkunstwerk''. Of course, it is equally possible it was born from social theories that arose out of a fear of the rise of industrialism. Nonetheless, evidence of complete interiors that typify the concept of ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' can be seen from some time before the 1890s. An increasing trend among architects in the 18th and 19th centuries was to control every facet of an architectural commission. As well as being responsible for the structure itself, they tried to extend their role to also include designing (or at least vetting) every aspect of the interior work. This included not only the interior architectural features but also the design of furniture, carpets, wallpaper, fabrics, light fixtures, and door-handles.

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

and Augustus Welby Pugin are examples of this trend to create an overall harmonising effect which in some cases might even extend to the choice or design of table silver, china, and glassware.

Art Nouveau

The form and ideology of ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' was regularly engaged with by the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

artists and architects of the period. Belgians

Victor Horta Victor Pierre Horta (; Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, built in 1892–93, is often ...

and

Henry Van de Velde Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.' ...

, Catalan

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Bar ...

, French

Hector Guimard Hector Guimard (, 10 March 1867 – 20 May 1942) was a French architect and designer, and a prominent figure of the Art Nouveau style. He achieved early fame with his design for the Castel Beranger, the first Art Nouveau apartment building ...

, Scottish

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

, Austrian

Josef Hoffmann Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrian- Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architectural work is the Stoclet Pa ...

, Russian-German Franz (Fyodor) Schechtel, Finn

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American architect known for his work with art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Eero Saarinen. Lif ...

, and many other architects also acted as furniture and interior designers. Many Art Nouveau masterpieces were results of cooperation of artists of different fields: *

Villa Majorelle The Villa Majorelle is a house located at 1 rue Louis-Majorielle in the city of Nancy, France, which was the home and studio of the furniture designer Louis Majorelle. It was designed and built by the architect Henri Sauvage in 1901-1902. The vil ...

(1901–1902) in

Nancy, France Nancy ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Nanzisch'' is the prefecture of the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was annexed by France under King Louis XV in 1766 and replaced by a ...

was created by architect Henri Sauvage, furniture designer Louis Majorelle, ceramist

Alexandre Bigot Alexandre Bigot (5 November 1862 – 27 April 1927) was a French ceramicist. He was primarily a ceramics manufacturer, producing the designs of many artists and architects of the French Art Nouveau movement, including: Jules Lavirotte, Hector ...

, and stained glass artist Jacques Grüber. * The Municipal House (1904–1912) in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

was designed by

Osvald Polívka Osvald Polívka (24 May 1859 in Enns – 30 April 1931 in Prague) was an Austrian-born Czech architect associated with the Art Nouveau period in Prague. Polívka designed many of Prague's significant landmarks of the era, plus other work in Brno ...

and Antonín Balšánek and painted by famous Czech painter

Alphonse Mucha Alfons Maria Mucha (; 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist, living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, best known for his distinctly stylized and decorat ...

, and features sculptures of Josef Mařatka and Ladislav Šaloun. * The

Gresham Palace The Gresham Palace (''Gresham-palota'') is a building in Budapest, Hungary; it is an example of Art Nouveau architecture. Completed in 1906 as an office and apartment building, it is today the Four Seasons Hotel Budapest Gresham Palace, a luxur ...

(1904–1906) in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

was created by architects Zsigmond Quittner and Jozsef Vago; sculptors Géza Maróti, Miklós Ligeti, and Ede Telcs; stained glass artist

Miksa Róth Miksa Róth (26 December 1865 – 14 June 1944) was a Hungarian mosaicist and stained glass artist responsible for making mosaic and stained glass prominent art forms in Hungarian art. In part, Róth was inspired by the work of Pre-Raphaelit ...

; and metalwork artist Gyula Jungfer. * Works of

: **

Hôtel Tassel The Hôtel Tassel (french: Hôtel Tassel, nl, Hotel Tassel) is a town house in Brussels, Belgium, designed by Victor Horta for the scientist and professor Emile Tassel, and built from 1892 to 1893. It is generally considered the first true A ...

,Ouvrage collectif sous la direction de

Philippe Roberts-Jones Baron Philippe Roberts-Jones (8 November 1924 – 9 August 2016) was a Belgian art historian who was the head of conservation of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. A member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium ...

, ''Bruxelles fin de siècle'', Flammarion, 1994, p.182

Hôtel Solvay The Hôtel Solvay (french: Hôtel Solvay, nl, Hotel Solvay) is a large Art Nouveau town house designed by Victor Horta on the Avenue Louise/Louizalaan in Brussels, Belgium. The house was commissioned by Armand Solvay, the son of the chemist ...

, and

Hôtel van Eetvelde The Hôtel van Eetvelde (french: Hôtel van Eetvelde, nl, Hotel van Eetvelde) is a town house designed in 1895 by Victor Horta for Edmond van Eetvelde, administrator of Congo Free State. It is located at 4, / in Brussels, Belgium. Together w ...

were created in cooperation with stained glass master Raphaël Évaldre. ** Maison and Atelier Horta was created in cooperation with sculptor Pieter Braecke. * Works of

Lluís Domènech i Montaner Lluís Domènech i Montaner (; 21 December 1850 – 27 December 1923) was a Spanish architect who was highly influential on '' Modernisme català'', the Catalan Art Nouveau/Jugendstil movement. He was also a Catalan politician. Born in Barcelon ...

Palau de la Música Catalana Palau de la Música Catalana (, en, Palace of Catalan Music) is a concert hall in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed in the Catalan '' modernista'' style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for ...

and

Hospital de Sant Pau The former Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (, en, Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul) in the neighborhood of El Guinardó, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, is a complex built between 1901 and 1930. It is one of the most prominent work ...

in Barcelona: ** Sculptors Pablo Gargallo and Eusebi Arnau and mosaic master Mario Maragliano took part in both projects. ** Sculptor Miguel Blay, stained-glass designer Antoni Rigalt, and ceramist Lluis Brù i Salelles were involved in construction of

. ** Metalwork artist Josep Perpinyà was involved in construction of

. * Works of

Park Güell Parc Güell ( ca, Parc Güell ; es, Parque Güell) is a privatized park system composed of gardens and architectural elements located on Carmel Hill, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Carmel Hill belongs to the mountain range of Collserola – t ...

, Palau Güell,

Sagrada Família The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, shortened as the Sagrada Família, is an unfinished church in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by ...

Casa Batlló () is a building in the center of Barcelona. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and is considered one of his masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times after th ...

, Casa Milá, and

Casa Vicens Casa Vicens () is a modernist building situated in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona. It is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí and is considered to be his first major project. It was built between 1883 and 1885, although Gaudí drew up the ...

in Barcelona and Colònia Güell in

Santa Coloma de Cervelló Santa Coloma de Cervelló () is a municipality situated in the comarca of Baix Llobregat, at the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The town has 7081 people. There are three urbanized zones in this town; the town centre, Colònia Güell are ...

): ** Mosaic master Mario Maragliano was involved in construction of

. ** Architect Francesc Berenguer i Mestres was involved in construction of

and Colònia Güell, ** Architect Joan Rubió was involved in construction of

, and Parc Güell. ** Multi-disciplinary artist

Josep Maria Jujol José María Jujol Gibert (16 September 1879 – 1 May 1949) was a Spanish architect. Jujol's wide field of activity ranged from furniture designs and painting, to architecture. He worked with Antoni Gaudí on many of his most famous works. ...

helped Gaudí with

Casa Milà Casa Milà (, ), popularly known as ''La Pedrera'' (, ; "the stone quarry") in reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, is a '' Modernista'' building in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the last private residence designed by arc ...

, and Parc Güell. *

Stoclet Palace The Stoclet Palace (french: Palais Stoclet, nl, Stocletpaleis) is a mansion in Brussels, Belgium. It was designed by the Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann for the Belgian financier Adolphe Stoclet. Built between 1905 and 1911 in the Vienna ...

in Brussels was created by architect and designer

, painters

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's pr ...

and

Fernand Khnopff Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 – 12 November 1921) was a Belgian symbolist painter. Life Youth and training Fernand Khnopff was born to a wealthy family that was part of the high bourgeoisie for generations. Khnopf ...

, sculptor Franz Metzner, and mosaic master

Leopold Forstner Leopold Forstner (2 November 1878 in Bad Leonfelden, Upper Austria – 5 November 1936 in Stockerau) was an artist who was part of the Viennese Secession movement, working in the Jugendstil style, focusing particularly on the mosaic as a form. B ...

. The construction of the palace foreshadowed

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

and

Modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that for ...

. * Museum Villa Stuck is the work of artist Franz von Stuck and 'was celebrated as a marvelously modern yet curious construction. Built along his guiding principle of the Gesamtkunstwerk the Villa Stuck combined all aspects of architecture, art, music, theatre, and life within its walls and garden'. * In Switzerland, Bruno Weber Park, a sculpture garden by artist Bruno Weber, is a later example of an Art Nouveau piece inspired by ''Gesamtkunstwerk''. * Kirche am Steinhof, or the Church of St. Leopold, was designed by the architect Otto Wagner. It is the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

oratory of the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital in Vienna, Austria. The building is considered one of the most important Art Nouveau churches in the world. Dedicated to Saint Leopold, it was built between 1903 and 1907, and includes

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s and

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

by Koloman Moser, and

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

s by

Othmar Schimkowitz Othmar Schimkowitz (2 October 1864 in Tárts, Komárom County – 24 April 1947 in Graz) was a Hungarian-born architectural sculptor who worked on the greatest landmarks of the Vienna Secession. Life Schimkowitz studied at the Academy of Fin ...

. The great majority of the other smaller details are the work of Otto Wagner himself. The statues on the two external towers represent Saint Leopold on the left and Saint Severin on the right, the two patron saints of Lower Austria, and are the work of the Viennese sculptor Richard Luksch. File:Horta Museum.JPG, Spiral staircase in Maison and Atelier Horta by

in Brussels (1898-1901) File:Bruxelles - Palais Stoclet (10).jpg, Detail of

in Brussels (1905-1911) File:Palau de la Música Catalana, the Catalan Concert Hall.jpg, Interior of

in Barcelona (1905-1909) File:Parc guell - panoramio.jpg, Entrance buildings in Parc Güell by

in Barcelona (1900-1914) File:The Municipal House (Obecni Dum), Prague - 8856.jpg, Main entrance of the Municipal House in Prague File:Room de Luxe.jpg, Interior of

Willow Tearooms The Willow Tearooms are tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Scotland, designed by internationally renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which opened for business in October 1903. They quickly gained enormous popularity, and ar ...

, in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

File:Moscow. Ryabushinsky House. Interiors. Main stairs - 004.JPG, Interior of Gorky Museum by Franz (Fyodor) Schechtel in Moscow File:Gresham Palace - Stierch 02.jpg, The

Modernism

The architectural movement of

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

also saw architects implementing this principle of ''Gesamtkunstwerk''. Centre Le Corbusier is an example by famed Modernist architect

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

. The Villa Cavrois mansion in France is another example of modernist ''Gesamtkunstwerk'', designed by French architect

Robert Mallet-Stevens Robert Mallet-Stevens (March 24, 1886 – February 8, 1945) was an influential French architect and designer. Early life Mallet-Stevens was born in Paris in a house called Maison-Laffitte (designed by François Mansart in the 17th century). H ...

In art

The multi-media style pioneered by

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

ists such as

Hugo Ball Hugo Ball (; 22 February 1886 – 14 September 1927) was a German author, poet, and essentially the founder of the Dada movement in European art in Zürich in 1916. Among other accomplishments, he was a pioneer in the development of sound poetry. ...

has also been called a ''Gesamtkunstwerk''. 'Towards the Merz Gesamtkunstwerk' was a University of Oregon graduate seminar that explored themes of Dadaism and ''Gesamtkunstwerk'', especially Kurt Schwitter's legendary Merzbau. They cite Richard Huelsenbeck in his German Dada Manifesto: 'Life appears as a simultaneous confusion of noises, colours and spiritual rhythms, and is thus incorporated — with all the sensational screams and feverish excitements of its audacious everyday psyche and the entirety of its brutal reality — unwaveringly into Dadaist art'. In 2011,

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the D ...

in London held ''Gesamtkunstwerk: New Art from Germany,'' a survey exhibition of 24 contemporary German artists. An exhibition entitled ''Utopia Gesamtkunstwerk'', curated by Bettina Steinbrügge and Harald Krejci, took place from January to May 2012 at the 21er Haus in

Belvedere, Vienna The Belvedere is a historic building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces (the Upper and Lower Belvedere), the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the third district o ...

. It was a 'contemporary perspective of the historical idea of the total work of art' and included a display by Esther Stocker based on the idea of 'the untidy nursery', it housed works by

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

, Monica Bonvicini,

Christian Boltanski Christian Liberté Boltanski (6 September 1944 – 14 July 2021) was a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and film maker. He is best known for his photography installations and contemporary French Conceptual art, conceptual style. Early li ...

, Marcel Broodthaers,

Daniel Buren Daniel Buren (born 25 March 1938, in Boulogne-Billancourt) is a French conceptual artist, painter, and sculptor. He has won numerous awards including the Golden Lion for best pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1986), the International Award for ...

Heinz Emigholz Heinz Emigholz (born 22 January 1948 in Achim, near Bremen, Germany) is a filmmaker, actor, artist, writer and producer. He lives and works in Berlin and Malta. Emigholz has produced a comprehensive filmic and artistic oeuvre and has also done per ...

Valie Export Valie Export (often stylized as 'VALIE EXPORT'; born 17 May 1940) is an avant-garde Austrian artist. She is best known for provocative public performances and expanded cinema work. Her artistic work also includes video installations, computer an ...

, Claire Fontaine, gelatin, Isa Genzken, Liam Gillick,

Thomas Hirschhorn Thomas Hirschhorn (born 16 May 1957) is a Swiss artist. He lives and works in Paris.Randy Kennedy (June 27, 2013)Bringing Art and Change to Bronx''New York Times''. Life and works In the 1980s, Thomas Hirschhorn came to Paris with the will to ...

Ilya Kabakov Ilya Iosifovich Kabakov (Russian: Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в; born September 30, 1933), is a Russian–American conceptual artist, born in Dnipropetrovsk in what was then the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. He worked f ...

, Martin Kippenberger,

Gordon Matta-Clark Gordon Matta-Clark (born Gordon Roberto Matta-Echaurren; June 22, 1943 – August 27, 1978) was an American artist best known for site-specific artworks he made in the 1970s. He was also a pioneer in the field of socially engaged food art. ...

Paul McCarthy Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Life McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1945. He studied art at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and later continued ...

Superflex Superflex is a Danish artist group founded in 1993 by Jakob Fenger, Rasmus Nielsen and Bjørnstjerne Christiansen. Superflex describe their projects as ''Tools'', as proposals that invite people to participate in and communicate the development o ...

, Franz West, and numerous others. An accompanying book exploring the topic was produced with the same name. Many reviews have characterized the

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...

exhibition the

9th Berlin Biennale 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

as a ''Gesamtkunstwerk''. In 2017, prominent visual artists

Shirin Neshat Shirin Neshat ( fa, شیرین نشاط; born March 26, 1957 in Qazvin) is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and th ...

and

William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...

directed operas at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

Other applications

The Catholic Mass has been cited as an example of a ''Gesamtkunstwerk'', and one could consider various liturgical expressions to be similar examples. Musician

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

has created multiple works that are considered to be examples of ''Gesamtkunstwerk''. ''The Total Art of Stalinism: Avant-Garde, Aesthetic Dictatorship, and Beyond'' is a 2011 book by Boris Groys which explores the comprehensive aesthetic reorganization of society in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

under

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's totalitarianism. Canadian development corporation Westbank, founded by Ian Gillespie, uses ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' as the founding idea behind the company's vision and philosophy for

urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...

. Video producer Brian David Gilbert of the video game website

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...

cited the ideal of ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' as an inspiration in foundational technique in his rendition of the '' PokéRAP''.

References

Bibliography

* Bergande, Wolfram
'The creative destruction of the total work of art. From Hegel to Wagner and beyond'
in: Ruhl (Ed.): ''The death and life of the total work of art'', Berlin: Jovis, 2014 * Finger, Anke and Danielle Follett (eds.) (2011) ''The Aesthetics of the Total Artwork: On Borders and Fragments'', The Johns Hopkins University Press * Grey, Thomas S. (ed.) (2008) '' The Cambridge Companion to Wagner'', Cambridge University Press. * Koss, Juliet (2010) ''Modernism After Wagner'', University of Minnesota Press, *Krejci, Harald, Agnes Arco, and Bettina Steinbrügge. ''Utopia Gesamtkunstwerk''. Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2012. * Millington, Barry (ed.) (1992) ''The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to Wagner's Life and Music''. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London. * Millington, Barry (n.d.) 'Gesamtkunstwerk', in

Oxford Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and the ...

(subscription only) (consulted 15 September 2010) * Roberts, David (2011)
The Total Work of Art in European Modernism
, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY * Trahndorff, Karl Friedrich Eusebius (1827) ''Ästhetik oder Lehre von Weltanschauung und Kunst'' * Wagner, Richard (1993), tr. W. Ashton Ellis ''The Art-Work of the Future and Other Works''. Lincoln and London, * Warrack, John (n.d.) 'Gesamtkunstwerk' in ''

The Oxford Companion to Music ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' is a music reference book in the Book series, series of Oxford Companions produced by the Oxford University Press. It was originally conceived and written by Percy Scholes and published in 1938. Since then, it ...

'' online, (subscription only) (consulted 15 September 2019)

External links

*
Towards the Merz Gesamtkunstwerk
– website for a University of Oregon graduate seminar {{Authority control Visual arts genres Opera terminology Richard Wagner Romanticism Aesthetics 19th-century theatre German words and phrases Architectural design