An organic EL device including a substrate, at least one organic thin-film layer overlying the main surface, and a pair of electrodes sandwiching therebetween the organic thin-film layer, at least one of the electrodes being a metallic electrode, the organic thin film layer defining a recombination electroluminescence region which is apart from the metallic electrode by at least 100 nm and has a periodic structure. In the organic EL device of the present invention, the emitted light is efficiently taken out by increasing the distance between the EL light-emitting region and the metal electrode for separating the light-emitting location from the metal electrode.