A workpiece holding apparatus comprising: holding means for attracting and holding each workpiece in turn from among a plurality of workpieces placed in a 3D (three-dimensional) space; first information acquisition means for acquiring 3D information of the plurality of workpieces; candidate calculation means for calculating, based on the 3D information of the plurality of workpieces acquired by the first information acquisition means, a plurality of candidate holding points, the plurality of candidate holding points being, when the holding means holds each of the workpieces in turn, candidates for a holding point of that workpiece; second information acquisition means for acquiring information about each of other workpieces present within a predetermined range from each of the candidate holding points on the workpieces, wherein the predetermined range is a range in which the workpiece is affected by the attractive force of the holding means; and control means for selecting one of the plurality of candidate holding points based on the information about the workpiece acquired by the second information acquisition means, and controlling the holding means so that the holding means holds the workpiece at the selected candidate holding point, wherein: the information about the workpiece is information about presence/absence of the other workpiece, and the control means selects, based on the information about the presence/absence of the other workpiece, from among the plurality of candidate holding points, a candidate holding point from which no other workpiece is present within the predetermined range; the workpiece holding apparatus being characterized in that: the second information acquisition means generates information indicating that there is another workpiece within the predetermined range when, as the 3D information of the workpiece within the predetermined range is cut in parallel to a horizontal plane orthogonal to a height direction at a plurality of different height positions, there is a cutting plane at at least one of the height positions that includes the cutting plane of the workpiece and the cutting plane of the another workpiece which do not overlap each other. holding means for attracting and holding each workpiece in turn from among a plurality of workpieces placed in a 3D (three-dimensional) space; first information acquisition means for acquiring 3D information of the plurality of workpieces; candidate calculation means for calculating, based on the 3D information of the plurality of workpieces acquired by the first information acquisition means, a plurality of candidate holding points, the plurality of candidate holding points being, when the holding means holds each of the workpieces in turn, candidates for a holding point of that workpiece; second information acquisition means for acquiring information about each of other workpieces present within a predetermined range from each of the candidate holding points on the workpieces, wherein the predetermined range is a range in which the workpiece is affected by the attractive force of the holding means; and control means for selecting one of the plurality of candidate holding points based on the information about the workpiece acquired by the second information acquisition means, and controlling the holding means so that the holding means holds the workpiece at the selected candidate holding point, wherein: the information about the workpiece is information about presence/absence of the other workpiece, and the control means selects, based on the information about the presence/absence of the other workpiece, from among the plurality of candidate holding points, a candidate holding point from which no other workpiece is present within the predetermined range; the workpiece holding apparatus being characterized in that: the second information acquisition means generates information indicating that there is another workpiece within the predetermined range when, as the 3D information of the workpiece within the predetermined range is cut in parallel to a horizontal plane orthogonal to a height direction at a plurality of different height positions, there is a cutting plane at at least one of the height positions that includes the cutting plane of the workpiece and the cutting plane of the another workpiece which do not overlap each other. the information about the workpiece is information about presence/absence of the other workpiece, and the control means selects, based on the information about the presence/absence of the other workpiece, from among the plurality of candidate holding points, a candidate holding point from which no other workpiece is present within the predetermined range; the workpiece holding apparatus being characterized in that: the second information acquisition means generates information indicating that there is another workpiece within the predetermined range when, as the 3D information of the workpiece within the predetermined range is cut in parallel to a horizontal plane orthogonal to a height direction at a plurality of different height positions, there is a cutting plane at at least one of the height positions that includes the cutting plane of the workpiece and the cutting plane of the another workpiece which do not overlap each other.