Goethe

Kunal Elete

Mr. Stanton

Humanities

May 3, 2010

A True Polymath

Considered to be one of the three greatest poets of all time, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was most commonly known for his literary work, although, he has made a few notable contributions to the art world as well. In fact, Goethe’s expertise ranged from the sciences to philosophy, theology, and many other subjects. Goethe’s ability to combine a variety of literary forms has influenced German lifestyle, and his atypical theory about color has significantly changed the way artists see color.

Goethe’s Faust is considered to be a work of immense proportions that has significantly changed German lifestyle. “[…] the play updates an old German story […] combines 18th - 19th century developments in European intellectual history (Rennie 2000).” Goethe’s version incorporates every possible form of literature that was available in the German language during his lifetime. Many people were so impressed and influenced by Faust that they began to use phrases from the story in their daily language, and soon after, the German language had gained a few new words. As influential as Hamlet was on the English people, Faust had the same effect on the Germans (Boyle 1991). Hamlet is one of the most quoted works in English literature, and similarly, Faust has become to be one of the most quoted works in the German literature. Even today, many newspapers in Germany contain a handful of allusions from Goethe’s Faust. Faust was considered by many as Goethe’s masterpiece, however, he himself felt that his Theory of Colours was his most important work.

Goethe’s perception of color was atypical for his time period, but it did influence the art world significantly. Goethe’s colour theory was essentially ignored at first, but was later embraced by the art world and gave colors new characteristics or symbols (Zajonc 1975). For example, he thought that the color turquoise symbolized water or ice, but the color orange seemed...