The one piece which occupied Goethe’s entire life as an artist was Faust. In a room maintained specifically for this subject, the visitor is confronted with the history of the Faust theme from its beginnings. From the popular books (“Volksbücher”), through the first dramatization by Marlowe, the puppet theatre tradition and up to the various versions that followed Goethe’s masterpiece in the 16th century. The museum’s Faust collection is an impressive record of the artistic influence that Faust had on literature, painting and music. In the “Faust room” the visitor will find illustrations to the earliest handbooks of magic containing formulars supposedly devised by the legendary Dr. Faust, as well as drawing and etchings by Peter Cornelius, miniature watercolours by Ramberg, lithographs by Delacroix and, extending into the present time, etchings by Salvador Dali and paintings by Paul Struck - all for Goethe’s Faust. Gounod and Hugo Wolf represent the world of music and opera.

The most important showcase contains several drafts of scenes from Faust II and metrical experiments by Goethe’s assistent Riemer for the Helena act. The next case displays first editions of Faust at the various stages of the drama’s compositions. Further cases contain Eckermann’s manuscript stage versions and translations and interpretations by Goethe’s contemporaries.