Gesamtkunstwerk
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of Gesamtkunstwerk
First recorded in 1935–40; from German: literally, “total art work”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Wagner envisioned a Gesamtkunstwerk, an all-inclusive art of music and drama and visuals that he never had the means to actually realize.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
It is a Gesamtkunstwerk comprising visual art, literature, philosophy, speculation, koans and sociopolitical commentary.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 2021
A performance artist who has collaborated with the Royal Opera House choir, she imagined Bank Job as Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk, or a total work of art.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 15, 2020
The name Gesaffelstein is a portmanteau combining Albert Einstein with the Wagnerian term Gesamtkunstwerk, which can be loosely translated as “total art work.”
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 18, 2019
With Warren Platner’s luxe furnishings and Sheila Hicks’s abstract tapestries, the project was a Mad Men-era version of a Gesamtkunstwerk, a complete work of art.
From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2018
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
