Lovis Corinth

Lovis Corinth was born in Tapiau, East Prussia, in 1858. Along with Max Liebermann and Max Slevogt, he was one of the most important representatives of German Impressionism. From 1876 to 1880 Corinth studied at the Königsberg Art Academy and subsequently at the Munich Academy, where he was introduced to naturalistic painting. At Paris’s Académie Julian he received training in academic nude and figure painting. In 1892 he joined the Munich Secession, and in 1901 he settled in Berlin, where he found success with his painting Salome, in which the young woman is receiving the head of John the Baptist. In 1901 he opened a painting school for women, which gave him financial security. His first pupil was Charlotte Berend, who became his wife in 1903. In 1911 he was elected president of the Berlin Secession. A short time later he suffered a stroke that left him lame on one side. Beginning in 1919 he frequently returned to the family’s country house on Walchensee, where he produced his Walchensee paintings. His late work blurs the boundaries between Impressionism and Expressionism. Corinth became known for his numerous self-portraits, and later for his provocative and critical motifs. He died of a lung infection in 1925 during a trip to Amsterdam.