Lovis Corinth

Lovis Corinth was born Franz Heinrich Louis Corinth in Tapiau (East Prussia) in 1858. His parents had a tannery and a farm. During his school years Corinth lived with his aunt, but at the age of 15 he returned to his parents’ farm after the death of his mother. At this time he also developed the desire to become an artist. In 1876 he began studying at the Königsberg Academy under the genre and history painter Otto Günther, who advised him to transfer to the Munich Academy, where he studied from 1880 and was introduced to naturalistic painting. In 1884 Corinth moved to Paris and joined the Académie Julian, where he received training in academic nude and figure painting. From 1891 Corinth settled in Munich for 10 years and became a member of the Münchener Secession. Corinth’s first successes were an exhibition of prints and drawings at the Fritz Gurlitt Gallery in Berlin in 1894 and his participation in the exhibition at the Münchner Glaspalast in 1895, where he was represented with the painting ‘Kreuzabnahme’ (Deposition from the Cross), received an award for it and was able to sell the work. In 1901 he moved to Berlin and joined the Berliner Secession. In the same year Corinth opened a painting school for ladies, which provided him with financial security. His first pupil is Charlotte Berend, who becomes his wife in 1903. In 1911 he is elected chairman of the Berliner Secession. During this period Corinth painted several self-portraits as well as numerous portraits of socially important people. The enormous artistic production of around 1,200 paintings, hundreds of watercolours and thousands of drawings was abruptly halted when the 53-year-old suffered a severe stroke on 19 December 1911. When Lovis Corinth began to paint again in 1912, his style changed from Impressionism to Expressionism. In 1915, he became a professor at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. From 1919 onwards, he repeatedly spent time at Walchensee – this landscape inspired his famous Walchensee pictures. During a trip to Amsterdam in 1925, Corinth suffered a severe bout of pneumonia and died shortly afterwards.