This term describes the distinctive quality that emanates from a person or object. Benjamin uses it to describe what makes a work of art unique and distinguishable from other objects. His definition also ties the term to the specific historical moment in which an object is made. He uses it figuratively as well to gesture at the cult or religious quality of a man-made work of art that is tied to a particular place or time, as the term is often generally used to indicate the holy light that emanates from religious objects or figures, as in the halo depicted around the figure of a saint in a painting. Benjamin also defines it as a “unique phenomenon of a distance however close it may be” (243). Even if we are in the physical presence of an important piece of art, we are aware of a spiritual or psychological distance between ourselves and the piece due to its history and significance.

This is a term that denotes the genuine or real quality of an object or attitude. It can also more generally be used to refer to the factual status of an object as tied to a historical moment in time and/or historical figure.