Abstract
Taking its starting point from the two versions of Goethe’s drama Stella (“Schauspiel fur Liebende” 1776, “Trauerspiel” 1806), this essay argues that the figure of Venus was paradigmatic for Goethe’s aesthetic development from his years as a Sturmer und Dranger through his middle age and maturation. Three focal points of his oeuvre and activity are highlighted and analyzed as illustrative of his twofold understanding of Venus, as an aesthetic figure of beauty, and as a link to the earthy, quotidien world of love, sex and the marketing of art. The argument discusses Venus in Goethe’s “Kunstler” poems and dramatic fragments as the first focal point, his aesthetic writings in Die Propylaen as the second, and the Venus depictions in his own drawings and vast art collections as the third, before arriving at a concluding summary of Goethe’s understanding of Venus and its significance for his work.
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