Novalis

Novalis (Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, 1772–1801) was a German poet, philosopher, and major representative of Early Romanticism. He studied philosophy, law, and mining or geology, and subsequently worked in the civil service and in salt administration. In 1798, he first published under the name “Novalis,” with the collection of fragments “Blüthenstaub.” His best-known works include the “Hymns to the Night” and the unfinished novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen,” which features the motif of the blue flower. He also left the “General Draft,” an encyclopedic project seeking to connect science, philosophy, and art. Novalis died in Weißenfels in 1801 from pulmonary tuberculosis.