Provided are an optical element that can achieve both color difference control and luminance reduction at an oblique viewing angle, and a liquid crystal display device including the optical element and having excellent display quality. The optical element includes: a first polarizer; a first phase difference layer; a second phase difference layer; and a second polarizer, the first polarizer, the first phase difference layer, the second phase difference layer, and the second polarizer being arranged in the stated order, the first phase difference layer satisfying the formula nx>ny≈nz, the second phase difference layer satisfying the formula nz>nx≈ny, the first polarizer and the second polarizer being linear polarizers, transmission axes of the first polarizer and the second polarizer being parallel to each other, a slow axis of the first phase difference layer being orthogonal to a polarization axis of the first polarizer.