ABSTRACT
Benjamin wrote on a wide range of topics-from literary tragedy to travel to messianism-and in a range of styles: from essay to commentary to aphorism. Artists, historians, literary critics, and philosophers have all been drawn to his texts for their insight and provocation. For art historical practice, an understanding of his theory of allegory developed in The Origin of German Tragic Drama (1928), as well as his essays “The Rigorous Study of Art” (1933), “Surrealism: The Last Snapshot of the European Intelligentsia” (1929), and “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility” (1935-1936), is essential.
