Goethe, Runge, Friedrich: on Painting
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Beate Allert Goethe, Runge, Friedrich: On Painting While it is true to some extent that Goethe had an impact on the lives of Runge and Friedrich, it is equally true that he was very critical of German Romanticism and tried to impose on others his own ideals of Weimar Classicism. Goethe was deeply affected by the works of both Runge and Friedrich. In fact Goethe shared many aspects of the painters’ diverse sensibilities, which are revealed in Goethe’s own writing. He was as influenced by them as they were by him. The relationship was by no means one-sided in either case and should be recognized as more complex than a matter of Goethe’s offended Classicism. Goethe’s complex relationship with the visual artists of his time, and especially with Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810) and Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840), has been widely discussed, although these interpretations have focused mainly on Goethe. The possible cross-references and mutual influences among them seem to have attracted little attention: this relationship is usually considered to be proof of Goethe’s friendship and well-connectedness with famous contempo- rary artists. Moreover, it is used to reinforce the claim for Goethe’s centrality in the German-speaking world of late eighteenth-century European culture.1 More recent scholarship on this topic has drawn attention to Goethe’s rejection of the movement of Romanticism in Germany, on the one hand associated with the Jena circle for philosophy and literature and on the other identified with a group 1 Richard Benz: Goethe und die Romantische Kunst. Munich: Piper Verlag 1940. Gerhard S. Kalienke: Das Verhältnis von Goethe und Runge im Zusammenhang mit Goethes Auseinandersetzung mit der Frühromantik. Hamburg: Helmut Buske 1973, offers in his first chapter a detailed summary of earlier scholarship on Goethe and Romantic art. One group which emphasizes Goethe’s friendly relations and well-connectedness with the painters of his time can be identified through works such as Andreas Aubert: Runge und die Romantik. Berlin: P. Cassirer 1909; Lothar Brieger: Die romantische Malerei. Eine Einführung in ihr Wesen und ihre Werke. Berlin: Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft 1926; and Kurt K. Eberlein: Goethe und die bildende Kunst der Romantik. In: Jahrbuch der Goethe- Gesellschaft 14 (1928). Pp. 1–77. Kalienke identifies a second group of scholars who notice a distance between Goethe and Runge but simply attribute it to Runge’s friendship with the Romantic poet Tieck and his “bad influence”, as well as some assumed sympa- thy between Runge and the Nazarenes whom Goethe really disliked. These scholars nev- ertheless point out that Goethe’s interest in Runge’s color theory continued despite his skepticism of his possible affiliations with the Romantics. Works belonging to this second group are Hermann Hettner: Kleine Schriften. Braunschweig: Vieweg 1884; Alfred Peltzer: Goethe und der Ursprünge der neuerer deutschen Landschaftsmalerei. Leipzig: Seemann 1907; and Paul Ferdinand Schmidt: Philipp Otto Runge: Sein Leben und sein Werk. Leipzig: Insel 1923. 74 of visual artists in Dresden.2 If we consider the relationship of Goethe to Runge and Goethe to Friedrich exclusively in terms of Goethe’s interest in visual art and his close connections to artists, then we would have to gloss over the considerable difficulties he had with these artists and vice versa.3 Yet to place principal empha- sis on how much Goethe really disliked certain developments in the visual arts of his own time, developments he saw personified in Runge and Friedrich, would be also to ignore the complex specifics of this fascinating yet intricate interaction.4 In this essay, I first argue that Goethe was as influenced by the Romantic visual aesthetic and artists who represent it as these artists were by Goethe. If we refer to Goethe’s Faust, for example, we see that Runge and Friedrich influenced Goethe’s work. Moreover, new imaging technology enables us to argue for Goethe’s imprint on a number of important paintings by these artists. One must address some of the various tensions and contradictions in Goethe’s conflicting roles as poet, art critic, and politician and illustrate further how new imaging technology can alter the ramifications of previously accepted interpretations of paintings. I shall demon- strate that Goethe not only responded vigorously to the new developments in art in order to affirm and protect the viability of his own classical principles, but that as a consequence this interaction with both Runge and Friedrich caused him major difficulties. Goethe was indeed truly affected and even influenced by their works – even though he was at times extremely disconcerted and even angry. He admired their paintings but at the same time he hated them for reasons that are have never been completely clear. I propose that Goethe’s rejection is not simply a matter of offended Classicism. Goethe himself at times seems quite happy to put aside his own classical ideals, and it may be his Faust is more intimately indebted to both Runge and Friedrich than has ever been acknowledged. 2 Goethe und die Kunst. Ed. by Sabine Schulze. Stuttgart: Gerd Hatje 1994. This richly illustrated volume contains several chapters on painting but always with Goethe as the main focus of attention. A book on German Romantic painting with very little mention of Goethe, is on the other hand Mitchell Benjamin Frank: German Romantic Painting Redefined. Burlington VT: Ashgate Publishing 2001. See also Goethe und das Zeitalter der Romantik, Stiftung für Romantikforschung 21. Ed. by Walter Hinderer. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2002. It covers a wide range of topics including much about Goethe responding to the movement of Romanticism in more than 500 pages, but neither Runge nor Friedrich appear in the index. 3 Günther Bergmann: Goethe – der Zeichner und Maler, ein Portrait. Munich: Callway 1999; and Gerhard S. Kalienke: Das Verhältnis von Goethe und Runge im Zusammenhang. 4 Hartmut Fröschle: Goethes Verhältnis zur Romantik. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2002. The first chapter offers a detailed survey on the scholarship on Goethe and Romanticism and the index offers several interesting links to Runge and Friedrich, however always with Goethe at the center of interest. See also Rudolf M. Bisanz: German Romanticism and Philipp Otto Runge: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Art Theory and Iconography. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press 1970..