Magnum opus or opus magnum (English pronunciation: /ˈmæɡnəm ˈoʊpəs/; plural magna opera or opera magna), from the Latin meaning "great work", refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an artist.

Sometimes the term magnum opus is used to refer to simply "a great work" rather than "the great work" of a specific person.

In popular usage, the English-style plural magnum opuses may also be seen. Some reputable dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary record the usage magnum opuses as common enough for inclusion.

The term magnum opus is distinguished in usage from "masterpiece" by a requirement that it be a work on a large scale.

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The Great Work (Latin: Magnum opus) is an alchemical term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as a device in art and literature. The magnum opus has been carried forward in new age and neo-hermetic movements which sometimes attached new symbolism and significance to the processes. It originally had four stages:

The origin of these four phases can be traced at least as far back as the first century. Zosimus of Panopolis wrote that it was known to Maria the Jewess. After the 15th century, many writers tended to compress citrinitas into rubedo and consider only three stages. Other color stages are sometimes mentioned, most notably the cauda pavonis (peacock's tail) in which an array of colors appear.

Magnum opus, the Latin for "great work", is the greatest work of a writer, artist, or composer.

Magnum opus may also refer to:

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