Lot 262 Dα

This floral still life is very characteristic of Corinth's intense, overflowing painting - particularly in his late work. Hans-Jürgen Imiela emphasises the great extent to which the artist spontaneously commenced with the flowers, without any kind of preliminary studies, and the great extent to which the theme of the picked and bound bouquets' frailty - their wilting and withering, which “took place under his eyes” as he worked - is implicit in these paintings: a classic “memento mori” that develops from dynamic details and dark blacks into a vibrant tonality and in which Corinth has inscribed his signature “wet in wet”, “as though he wished to link his name with this process of transition” (H.-J. Imiela, in: Charlotte Berend-Corinth, Lovis Corinth: Die Gemälde, Werkverzeichnis, Munich 1992, Einführung, p. 43).
This suggested symbolism may also be revealed in the powerful pictorial effect of the chrysanthemums depicted here. This can furthermore be explained, in particular and in a wider sense, through the manner of painting, which emphasises the brushwork as such: the impasto and semi-abstract application of the paint as a fulminant artistic gesture - it is expressively a sign of self-assertion - as though Corinth were painting against all existential dangers. The flowers stand bundled into a tight bunch, but nonetheless unfold in every direction and find a diffuse centre in a dark container, which Charlotte Berend-Corinth - and she may have known for certain - has described as a “bronze pot”. Lovis Corinth has masterfully succeeded in using the selected tonal contrasts to create a pictorial unity which translates all this turmoil into a form and which distinguishes him as a great late impressionist.