The Urfaust-Cycle
Goethe’s Faust is world literature, and the characters of Doctor Faustus, Mephisto and Gretchen are showcase roles for actors. Mueller-Stahl was actually offered the role of Urfaust, Goethe’s first fragmentary version of the material, on which he worked from 1774 until his death. However, due to existing commitments, he was unable to accept. Nevertheless, he learned the text, and it became an important source of reference for him. In his cycle of lithographs from 2003, Mueller-Stahl devotes himself to Goethe’s Urfaust without strictly depicting the plot. Rather, it is key moments and motifs that deal with the basic theme of the Faust material: the urge for knowledge, insight and power.
The technique of lithography allowed Mueller-Stahl to take an impulsive approach to drawing, as in his drawings. Parallel to the prints, he also created paintings. They vividly show the depth of the painter and actor's intellectual and artistic engagement with existential questions.