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Goethe portrait on the wall of the Goethehaus in Rome
Image: Imago Images/Agenzia Romano SicilianiImage: Imago Images/Agenzia Romano Siciliani

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theater director, and critic.

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All Content on this topic

A painting showing Goethe as a young man holding a silhouette in his hand.

Goethe: The pop star of his time?

The German literary giant had a pre-internet and social media cult following among young people for his 'viral' novel.
CultureSeptember 30, 2024
Carmen Romero Quero sits while she talks

The dynamic director making Chile's theater more accessible

Director Carmen Romero Quero creates critical, historically informed theater for a broad audience.
TheaterSeptember 9, 202409:21 min
DW Arts Unveiled (Sendungslogo Composite)

The power of culture: Goethe Medal 2024

Goethe Medal 2024: The three award winners embody the power of culture.
CultureSeptember 9, 202426:03 min
A two-part medal, with a gold-colored profile of Goethe, and a silver-colored woman's head in Classical style, on a green ribbon atop a pile of old, leather-bound books.

Goethe Medal 2024: Celebrating three women in the arts

Germany's highest prize for foreign cultural policy goes to Claudia Cabrera, Carmen Romero Quero and Iskra Geshoska.
ArtsSeptember 6, 2024
Three teenaged girls hold up gold medals that they are wearing around their necks and certificates of German language knowledge

Going for gold in largest German-language competition

The teenagers participating in the Internationale Deutscholympiade have a common passion: the German language.
CultureJuly 16, 2024
Bundesentwicklungsministerin Svenja Schulze

Germany hopes to attract skilled workers from Morocco

Germany and Morocco are working together to support regular migration.
MigrationJanuary 31, 202404:02 min
Erfurt Cathedral Hill lit up at night.

10 reasons to love Thuringia

Thuringia, Germany's most central location, is home to plenty of nature, history and some regional specialties.
TravelJanuary 25, 202410 images
DW Arts Unveiled (Sendungslogo Composite)

Art and Freedom: Goethe Medal Winners 2023 - Arts Unveiled

The 2023 Goethe Medal winners come from Tbilisi, Taipei and Budapest. They stand for freedom of art.
CultureNovember 25, 202326:06 min
100-Euro-Sammlermünze „Faust“

Goethe's 'Faust' commemorated on €100 coin

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's drama continues to fascinate literature lovers. Why does the play remain relevant today?
LiteratureOctober 6, 2023
A photo of six TV monitors in the control room of a TV studio. The bottom three show a man in a dark polo shirt.

Why the Goethe medal could spark political controversy

Cultural workers from Georgia, Taiwan and Hungary have been awarded the Goethe medal for their courage and commitment.
ArtsAugust 28, 2023
Portrait of Luna de Rosa, woman wearing a long white dress artistically decorated with threads, sitting amid an art gallery.

A networking collective

Six women make up the curatorial collective of the OFF Biennial Budapest. They work only with people and institutions that are independent of state cultural funding, aiming to strength them and create networks in Hungary and internationally.
August 28, 202306:02 min
Four square paintings depicting a cityscape in bright colors.

Sudan: What the 'gold of the grandmothers' symbolizes

In Sudan, the fighting is tearing the country apart. An exhibition in Cologne aims to raise awareness.
ArtsJuly 3, 2023
A plane readies to touch down at an airport

Sudan: German cultural workers evacuated

Amid tense fighting in Khartoum, the German army has evacuated Goethe Institute staff from the country.
CultureApril 25, 2023
A huge building in central Berlin

Tit for tat: Russia freezes German Goethe Institut accounts

Are Germany's cultural centers in Russia at risk of being shut down?
PoliticsApril 15, 2023
Goethe-Institut Logo

Russia blocks Goethe-Institut bank accounts

The accounts of the German cultural organization Goethe-Institut have been blocked in Russia in a tit-for-tat move.
PoliticsMarch 31, 2023
04.2016 Check-in (Sendungslogo)

A tour of Thüringen - Check-in

Travel tips for culture and nature lovers.
CultureSeptember 3, 202226:06 min
DW Arts.21 (Sendungslogo Kultur.21 englisch)

When culture meets politics

How artists stand up against war and repression - and how the media failed at the 1972 Olympics.
CultureSeptember 3, 202226:06 min
Nimi Ravindran and Shiva Pathak

Goethe Medal winners are activists and artists

The award recognizes "outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations."
CultureAugust 28, 2022
Deutschland | Wartburg in Eisenach

Three Thuringia travel tips

The Wartburg, the Rennsteig and the sites of Classic Weimar are tourist highlights in Thuringia.
CultureJuly 16, 202202:58 min
Mural of a smialing woman surrounded by other people and enclosed in a body of water

Conference on diverse feminist forms of protest worldwide

What concerns feminists in India or in Africa? The festival "Frequencies. Sharing Feminisms" provides answers.
CultureMay 19, 2022
external

Booster effectiveness against omicron

What awaits us, the vaccinated, boosted, and recovered?
HealthJanuary 13, 202202:12 min
DW: Germany's 16 states: Thuringia

Germany's 16 states: Thuringia

Thuringia, home to great thinkers like Luther and Goethe, is said to be Germany's green heart and geographical center.
TravelDecember 22, 2021
Adam Reichel smiles while playing guitar on stage.

How a 1991 German song became a hit in China

"Aloha Heja Je" was a hit in 1991 in Germany, and now in China — an unexpected boost to musician Achim Reichel's career.
MusicDecember 16, 2021
Goethe-Medal 2021 | Chinese dancer and choreographer Wen Hui

The body as archive of memory

Artist and choreographer Wen Hui revolutionized contemporary Chinese dance.
DanceDecember 4, 202103:50 min
Goethe Medal 2021 | Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa

Connecting through sound art

Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa’s music fluctuates between Zen Buddhism and the avant-garde.
MusicDecember 4, 202103:58 min
Two young women learning German in a language laboratory

From language teaching to cultural institute

From language teaching to intercultural dialogue—70 years of the Goethe-Institut
CultureDecember 4, 202106:54 min
Carola Lentz visiting the Goethe-Institut Cameroon

Carola Lentz: Inaugural visit in Cameroon

A visit between diplomacy and cultural exchange. The Goethe-Institut's new president travels Douala and Yaoundé.
CultureDecember 4, 202103:42 min
DW Arts.21 (Sendungslogo Kultur.21 englisch)

The Goethe-Institut - 70 Years of Cultural Exchange

The Goethe-Institut at 70. A look back over the decades, its new director and three cultural ambassadors.
CultureDecember 4, 202126:01 min
Goethe-Institut sign on a building

Goethe-Institut marks its 70th anniversary

For Goethe-Institut President Carola Lentz, the cultural institution's history is marked by permanent reinvention.
CultureNovember 23, 2021
Three language students from Ghana dressed in traditional robes are walking along the street with their German host family in Murnau, Bavaria, in 1969.

Goethe-Institut: Celebrating 70 years

Germany's emissary for language and culture was founded on August 9, 1951.
CultureNovember 23, 202111 images
Preisträger der Goethe-Medaille 2019 | Doğan Akhanlı

Dogan Akhanli: 'Writing is my weapon'

The German-Turkish human rights activist and writer Dogan Akhanli died on October 31 after a short illness. He was 64.
CultureNovember 1, 2021
Frankfurt skyline

Germany's 16 states: Hesse

From the skyline of Frankfurt to the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm — welcome to Hesse!
TravelOctober 20, 2021
Artist Joseph Beuys

Beuys: Big in Japan?

A Goethe Institute project brings together Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik and contemporary Asian art.
CultureOctober 16, 202106:17 min
A typewriter on a table

PEN celebrates its 100th anniversary

The writers association, which has championed human rights from Nazi Germany to 2021 Belarus, turns 100 on October 5.
CultureOctober 4, 2021
DW Arts.21 (Sendungslogo Kultur.21 englisch)

Blazing a trail with classical music

Arts 21 explores how classical music transcends boundaries and creates communities.
CultureSeptember 23, 202126:01 min
Awarding of Goethe-medal | Toshio Hosokawa

Winner of the Goethe Medal 2021

Composer Toshio Hosokawa combines western avant-garde with Japanese tradition.
CultureSeptember 4, 202106:11 min
Toshio Hosokawa

2021 Goethe Medals awarded

This year's prize is going to Marilyn Douala Bell of Cameroon, Toshio Hosokawa of Japan and Wen Hui of China.
CultureAugust 28, 2021
Goethe-Medaille 2021 Preisträgerin | Marilyn Douala Manga Bell

Goethe Institute honors Cameroonian princess

She is a princess, econonomic developer and artist. Now she is honored with the prestigious Goethe award.
CultureAugust 28, 2021
Young people dressed in lederhosen and dirndls and holdings up beer glasses at Oktoberfest in Munich

How does the world view Germany?

Efficient, reliable but inflexible — why Germans are respected, and what people dislike.
SocietyJuly 8, 2021
Goethe Institute's Minsk office

Belarus tells Germany's Goethe Institute to shut down

Germany's Goethe Institute has been told to suspend its Belarus activities.
PoliticsJuly 1, 2021
Wen Hui holding her arms up while standing in front of a brick wall.

Goethe Medals honor artists beyond borders

Goethe Medal 2021 winners are Cameroonian Princess Douala Manga Bell, composer Toshio Hosokawa and Wen Hui of China.
CultureMay 19, 2021
DW Arts.21 (Sendungslogo Kultur.21 englisch)

Arts.21 - Farewell to a Cultural Ambassador

He was one of Germany's most accomplished cultural leaders: Klaus-Dieter Lehmann. He shaped the German cultural landscape for decades. Arts 21 followed him in the last year of his career.
CultureMay 1, 202126:01 min
DW Arts.21 (Sendungslogo Kultur.21 englisch)

Farewell to a Cultural Ambassador

Cultural leader Klaus-Dieter Lehmann’s final year at the Goethe Institute.
CultureMay 1, 202126:06 min
Band ok.danke.tschüss

Singing your way to better Deutsch

Pop band ok.danke.tschuess is set to produce songs and videos for young learners of German.
CultureApril 14, 2021
Working on the movie "Project Baghdad"

Beethoven in Baghdad

Goethe's Egmont set to Beethoven’s music—an adventurous undertaking in the middle of Baghdad.
CultureDecember 13, 202004:31 min
Illustration used by Goethe-Institut

Goethe-Institut embarks on a new journey

Carola Lentz is the new head of the Goethe-Institut. She's got many plans for her upcoming four-year tenure.
CultureNovember 16, 2020
Dokumentarfilme | Lehmann Der letzte Kulturdiplomat

Lehmann - The Last Cultural Diplomat

Cultural diplomacy is the softer power game between nations.
SocietyNovember 15, 202041:35 min
Ethnologin Carola Lentz wird neue Präsidentin des Goethe-Instituts

New Goethe-Institut head: Carola Lentz

Carola Lentz will soon take charge of Germany’s prized cultural institute. She tells DW about her vision for the future.
CultureNovember 13, 2020
People walking around a pink cube which is the installation "Gropius Room Pavilion"

Germany from A to Z: Weimar

We're taking a tour through Germany and will introduce you to a town in the alphabet. This week W takes us to Weimar.
TravelOctober 26, 202010 images
Deutsches school in Kazakhstan

Some germane facts about German

The German language is constantly evolving. Here are some interesting facts.
CultureSeptember 28, 2020