Lot 24 Dα

In the final years of his life, the most important phase of his art, Lovis Corinth achieved a form of painterly expression that was entirely his own – an expressionism defined by temperament and passion, in which he revels in the colours of nature as if he had achieved liberation.
In his Berlin studio and his hideaway at Walchensee, where the Corinth family had built a summer home in 1919, the painter worked with irrepressible creative energy until shortly before his death. Those were the years when he created the famous Walchensee paintings and numerous floral still lifes, which reflect Corinth’s impulsive personality in the opulence of their motifs and painting. The ephemerality of his subject matter always resonates in the background despite all the splendour. “In his still lifes, as well, the emotional and sensual sense is defined above all else through the irregular dabs [of paint], which create dynamism, while dirty tones temper the abundance and purity of the colours in a manner that restricts this sensualism and suggests the process of decay; life and death are united” (Friedrich Gross, in: Lovis Corinth 1858-1925, exh. cat. Museum Folkwang Essen/Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung Munich 1985/1986, p. 51).
He created this view of a luxuriant bouquet of zinnias in various colours during the year before his death. The still life stands out among others in which he has captured the colours of the seasons through the flowers’ exceptional richness. Here his mastery of painting has culminated in a deeply personal engagement with the lavish but ephemeral abundance of nature. Corinth has selected a slightly upward view of his subject and brings viewers up as close to the flowers as possible. These viewers become direct witnesses to the flowers’ beauty and magnificent colours, which seem to burst beyond the limits of the picture plane. Impulsively placed dabs of colour and short, broad brushstrokes combine together into the characteristic forms of zinnia flowers while nonetheless remaining entirely free in terms of painting.