ORGANIC ELECTROLUMINESCENT ELEMENT

Provided is a high-luminance, long-life laminated organic electroluminescent element. The organic electroluminescent element has a composition in which a plurality of light-emitting units (3) including at least one organic light-emitting layer are laminated between a positive electrode (2) and a negative electrode (5), and in which a linking layer (4) is held between the respective light-emitting units. The linking layer is formed by laminating, in succession from the positive electrode side, an electron generating/transport section (4-1-a), an intermediate layer (4-1-b), and a hole generating/transport section (4-1-c), which contain at least one metal selected from a group consisting of an alkali mental, alkaline earth metal, rare earth metal, alloy of these metals, and compound of these metals. Preferably the intermediate layer (4-1-b) contains an electrical insulating non-semiconductive substance having a specific resistance which is between 1.0 x 10 2 ©·cm and 1.0 x 10 9 ©·cm.