Arts and Their Mission

8 lectures, Dornach & Oslo, May 18 – June 9, 1923 (CW 276)

"Art, always a daughter of the Divine, has become estranged from her parent.... We should not mock scientific materialism and naturalistic art. These have their place in human culture. But the starting point for a new life of art can come only through direct stimulation from the spiritual realm. We must become artists, not by developing symbolism or allegory, but by rising, through spiritual knowledge, more and more nto the spiritual world. ―Rudolf Steiner

In these lectures, Rudolf Steiner offers insights into architecture, sculpture, painting, drama, costuming, music, poetry, and eurythmy.

The Arts and Their Mission is a translation from German of Das Künstlerische in seiner Weltmission. Der Genius der Sprache. Die Welt des sich offenbarenden strahlenden Scheins – Anthroposophie und Kunst. Anthroposophie und Dichtung (GA 276).

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe's scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner's multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.