The Greatest Unfinished Works

Incomplete masterpieces—works left unfinished that add to their mystique

  1. Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (“Unfinished Symphony”) (1822) A symphony left mysteriously incomplete after two movements, yet still one of the most hauntingly beautiful compositions ever written.

  2. Charles Dickens – The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) Dickens died before revealing who the murderer was, leaving this detective novel in eternal suspense.

  3. Orson Welles – The Other Side of the Wind (1970s, released posthumously in 2018) A film about filmmaking, left incomplete due to legal and financial battles—its fragmented, experimental nature makes it even more fascinating.

  4. J.R.R. Tolkien – The Silmarillion (Begun in 1917, unfinished at death in 1973, published posthumously in 1977) Tolkien’s sprawling mythology of Middle-earth, assembled by his son Christopher from decades of notes and drafts.

  5. Leonardo da Vinci – Adoration of the Magi (1481) An unfinished masterpiece that reveals Leonardo’s process—sketches and underpainting show his genius at work.

  6. Stanley Kubrick – Napoleon (Unmade Film, 1969) Kubrick’s obsessively researched but never-filmed epic about Napoleon Bonaparte, with thousands of location photos and detailed scripts.

  7. Jane Austen – Sanditon (1817) Austen’s final, unfinished novel, begun in the last months of her life—a seaside comedy that hints at new directions in her work.

  8. Hermann Melville – Billy Budd, Sailor (1891, published posthumously in 1924) A meditation on justice and innocence, left incomplete at Melville’s death but later adapted into opera and film.

  9. Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 10 (1910, unfinished at death in 1911) Only the first movement was completed, though performing versions have been reconstructed from Mahler’s sketches.

  10. Mark Twain – The Mysterious Stranger (Started in the 1890s, abandoned multiple times) A dark philosophical novel about a supernatural visitor, left in multiple incomplete versions with no definitive ending.

Honorable Mentions

Literature & Philosophy

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Love of the Last Tycoon (1940, unfinished at his death)
  • Edgar Allan Poe – The Lighthouse (1849, abandoned before his death)
  • Franz Kafka – The Castle (1922, left unfinished at his death in 1924)
  • Albert Camus – The First Man (Unfinished novel, 1960, published posthumously)
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Kubla Khan (1797, unfinished opium-induced poem)
  • Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales (1400, unfinished at his death)
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau – The Reveries of the Solitary Walker (1776-1778, incomplete at his death)

Music

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Requiem (1791, unfinished at his death, completed by his student Süssmayr)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 10 (Unfinished at his death, sketches remain)
  • Claude Debussy – Six Sonatas for Various Instruments (Planned as six pieces, only completed three before his death in 1918)
  • Edvard Grieg – Piano Concerto No. 2 (1883–1884, abandoned)
  • Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 9 (1896, unfinished at his death, completed by later composers in multiple versions)

Film & Visual Arts

  • David Lynch – Ronnie Rocket (Unmade surrealist film project)
  • Sergio Leone – Leningrad (Unmade WWII epic planned before his death in 1989)
  • Claude Monet – His final Water Lilies series (left incomplete due to declining vision)
  • Hieronymus Bosch – The Last Judgment (C. 1500, an incomplete triptych painting)
  • Paul Cézanne – His final self-portrait (Left unfinished at his death in 1906)

Why Do Unfinished Works Fascinate Us?

  • They reveal the creative process – Seeing an artist’s raw, unfinished ideas gives insight into their thinking.
  • They invite speculation – Readers, historians, and critics debate how these works should have ended.
  • They feel timeless – Their lack of finality keeps them open-ended, forever engaging the imagination.