Visit any major art museum, any time, and you may find an abundance of monumental names listed on tiny plaques hanging alongside even more works of art recognisable. The emotion felt by every art enthusiast when entering these buildings of time and creation is undeniable and above all unique. Could it be the atmosphere of the building, the presence of artwork, the people, perhaps the grandeur of the space, or perhaps, could it be the spirit of the artists themselves, peering through the work they have created? As viewers scrutinize the artworks before them there is no question whether or not they have considered the meaning of the artwork, where it came from, and what the artist who created it was interested in. The intrigued viewer might also most likely want to have a conversation with that artist and ask them questions about the artwork and what they were thinking while producing it, with the goal of better understanding what they were looking at. As a viewer and after serious contemplation, would you believe that you understood the work of art in the same way that the artist or the society of artists believed in the work? Could you appreciate the work anyway? Walter Benjamin, a well-known German-Jewish Marxist literary and cultural critic, philosopher, translator, and essayist, introduced ideas and questions similar to these in his epic essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” He wrote about many different ideas regarding the concept of art, writing, politics and society. Benjamin was born in Berlin on July 15, 1892. He worked and lived in Germany for most of his life. He received a PhD in 1919, but never pursued an academic career (egs.edu, 2009). “He dedicated his life's work to writing...... half of the paper...... 41-46. Ebscohost. Network. November 12, 2009Luehrman M., Unrath K. "Bringing Kids to Art: Bringing Art to Kids." Art education. January 2009: 41-47. Print.Peim, Nick. “Walter Benjamin in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Aura in Education: A Rereading of 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 41.3 (2007): 363-380. Wilson Web. Network. 2 November 2009.Stolnitz, Girolamo. "One the apparent end of truly high art." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 43.4 (1985): 345-358. Wilson Web. Network. 15 October 2009.Stolnitz, Girolamo. "The Aesthetic Attitude" in the Rise of Modern Aesthetics. "Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 36.4 (1978): 409-422. Wilson Web. Network. October 15, 2009. Townsend, Chris. “Knowledge as Spectacle.” Art Monthly 322 (December 2008/January 2009): 11-14 . Wilson Web. Network. 15 October. 2009.