Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt in 1749 and died in Weimar in 1832. He spent most of his adult life in the small Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, where he served as a minister and advisor to the duke while pursuing a remarkable range of interests. He was a poet, playwright, novelist, painter and natural scientist, and he also directed the court theatre. His early novel The Sorrows of Young Werther made him famous across Europe while still in his twenties. Later he turned to a calmer, classical style, shaped by his journey to Italy and his friendship with Friedrich Schiller. His great drama Faust occupied him for most of his life. He also wrote lyric poems, an autobiography, and studies of plants, anatomy and colour. Goethe is often seen as the central figure of German literature, and his ideas about self-development, nature and art influenced writers and thinkers far beyond Germany.