In his second paragraph, after briefly explaining the history of reproduction through art, Walter Benjamin says that even with the most perfect reproduction, such as photography for instance, it could never be perfect. It is quite puzzling at first glance because photography is the numerical representation of reality. Individuals cannot do better in terms of reproduction these days. Painting is the pictorial and manual representation of environment but it can be open to subjectivity and interpretation. Photography is completely objective even if it can still be modified by computing.

However, here is the element that is missing to every reproduction an artist could produce : “its presence in time and space”. Its means that art must catch our eye and a piece of art is always unique and authentic. “The original preserved all its authority.” The author talks about the “aura” of art. Images appear so close to the observator’s eye whereas the reality is so far. Pieces of art developed through mass technical reproduction such as printing, photography or cinema, using chimical and electric processes, have contributed to lose this aura. Technical reproductions may have modifed the viewer’s perception : art seems to be widely available to the public even though images reveal in reality their absence.