Abstract

“The Messiah [...] is the source of all religious art.” This statement, which we find in Cohen’s Über den ästhetischen Wert unserer religiösen Bildung, seems to be not fully consistent with the whole of Cohen’s aesthetics and with Cohen’s thought about the possibility of art having religious themes. In order to explain this statement and Cohen’s perspective about Messianism in art, in §§ 1-3 I examine Cohen’s reflections about this topic in his main works about art and religion; in § 4 I maintain that the goal of this statement is to underline a difference between Jewish and Christian religious art. Finally, in § 5, I offer a short examination of some 20th or 21th century artworks that can be compared to Cohen’s views about Messianism in art: namely, Marc Chagall’s crucifixions, Gustav Mahler’s 4th symphony, and Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Terzo Paradiso.