Lovis Corinth

Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Lovis Corinth - Ausstellung von Gemälden und Aquarellen zu seinem Gedächtnis, 1926, no. 457 (titled Springbrunnen)
Munich, Haus der Kunst; Berlin, Nationalgalerie; Saint Louis, Art Museum and London, Tate Gallery, Lovis Corinth, 1996-1997, no. 250 illustrated in colour in the catalogue

The present work, executed in 1923, shows the terrace of the artist's holiday house at the Walchensee, which was the subject of several oil paintings Corinth produced in the same year. In Walchensee-Landschaft, the artist captures the fountain surrounded by red roses in a most atmospheric way. Corinth underscores the vibrancy of the red, green, blue and brown brushstrokes by means of the dynamic diagonal division of the composition. The terrace occupies the lower right half of the picture and the lake, visible through a screen of trees, dominates the upper left half. Like the French Impressionists, Corinth found some of his favourite motifs in his own domestic surroundings and in the circle of his family and friends.

The present work is one of the artist's most accomplished and fully-worked watercolours. It is a rare example of the Walchensee motif in this medium worked by the artist to a full richness of effect almost attaining the power and impact of a canvas painting. Walchensee-Landschaft is created with swift, deft brushstrokes and a great vigour and vitality, demonstrating the artist's enduring passion for nature and for art in the last years of his life.