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.
But it was in the staging of his own plays that he approached the Wagnerian ideal of the Gesamtkunstwerk or integrated artwork.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2025
The ecological outrage and anxiety at the core of “Solastalgia” were also central to “Welcome to Paradise Lost,” a musical theater work that might best be described as an immersive environmental agitprop Gesamtkunstwerk.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 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
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.
