Fragments of texts from a lecture by Martin Heidegger entitled
THE ORIGIN OF THE WORK OF ART
It is not a question of solving the enigma of art but only of showing it.
The “origin” referred to here can be summed up more simply as the “cause of the presence of works of art”.
The being of the work is determined by what the work finds its basis in.
And this background alone is the origin of the work of art, which is its essence and necessity.
This origin is not found in the artist.
The origin of the work of art is art.
Art is not, because there are works;
but on the contrary, it is only through and insofar as art happens that the existence of works is made necessary.
And what makes the work necessary is the same background that makes the artist possible.