Friedrich Nietzsche had a deep admiration for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, viewing him as an exemplary figure of human greatness. Nietzsche’s reflections on Goethe can be found throughout his works, where he often praises Goethe’s comprehensive approach to life, his intellectual breadth, and his capacity for self-overcoming. Some key points Nietzsche made about Goethe include:
- The Ideal of the “Übermensch”: Nietzsche saw Goethe as a precursor to his concept of the “Übermensch” or “Overman.” Goethe’s ability to integrate various aspects of life—intellect, artistry, and passion—represented to Nietzsche a model of human excellence and self-mastery.
- Goethe’s Wholeness: Nietzsche admired Goethe for his wholeness and his ability to embrace and harmonize contradictions within himself. Goethe’s life and work exemplified the ability to live fully and richly, integrating both Apollonian (order, reason) and Dionysian (chaos, emotion) elements, which Nietzsche also explored in his philosophy.
- Anti-Dogmatism: Nietzsche appreciated Goethe’s resistance to dogmatism and his open-minded pursuit of knowledge and understanding. Goethe’s scientific inquiries and philosophical musings reflected a spirit of inquiry and a rejection of narrow-mindedness, qualities that Nietzsche valued highly.
- Critique of Romanticism: While Goethe was associated with the Romantic movement, Nietzsche saw him as transcending its excesses. He viewed Goethe as someone who could appreciate and express the depth of human emotion without succumbing to Romanticism’s sentimentalism and irrationality.
In “Twilight of the Idols,” Nietzsche wrote:
“Goethe—no mere German event, but a European one: a magnificent attempt to overcome the eighteenth century by a return to nature, by a going-up to the naturalness of the Renaissance, a kind of self-overcoming on the part of that century. … Goethe conceived a strong, highly cultured man, skillful in all bodily accomplishments, self-possessed, and consciously restrained, who dared to allow himself the whole compass and wealth of being natural, to be strong enough for this freedom; a man of tolerance, not out of weakness but out of strength, because he knows how to make use of himself.”
These reflections show Nietzsche’s profound respect for Goethe’s ability to embody a balanced and dynamic human ideal, capable of profound artistic creation and intellectual pursuit.
I am surrounded by beauty
The statue of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe located in the Horticulture Center of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia was created by Heinrich Carl Johann Manger in 1890 and installed in 1891. The statue is made of bronze and stands on a granite base. The sculpture itself is 8 feet 6 inches tall, while the base adds another 9 feet, bringing the total height to approximately 17 feet 6 inches oai_citation:1,Goethe – Association for Public Art oai_citation:2,Philadelphia Public Art: Goethe.
The statue was commissioned by the Canstatter Volksfest-Verein, a German-American organization, as a tribute to Goethe, one of Germany’s most celebrated literary figures. It is a companion piece to another statue by Manger in the same park, which honors Friedrich Schiller, another prominent German writer and philosopher oai_citation:3,Schiller – Association for Public Art.