Laokoon (Lessing)

Laocoön: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry
AuthorGotthold Ephraim Lessing
Original title'Laokoon: oder über die Grenzen der Malerei und Poesie'
LanguageGerman
SubjectAesthetics, art theory, poetry
GenreTreatise
Publication date
1766
Publication placeGermany

Laocoön: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry (German: Laokoon: oder über die Grenzen der Malerei und Poesie) is a theoretical treatise on art written by the dramatist, philosopher, theologian, poet, critic, and statesman Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and published in 1766 in Berlin. The main theme of the work is to establish the existing boundaries between painting and poetry. Also notable is the controversy between the author of the treatise and Winckelmann regarding the Laocoön sculpture and the period to which it belongs. Today, the essay is not preserved in its entirety.

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