Vor dem Spiegel (At the Mirror)

Artist Lovis Corinth (German, 1858–1925)

Date1912

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 140 × 93 cm (55 1/8 × 36 5/8 in.)
framed (no buildout): 157.5 × 109.9 × 5.1 cm (62 × 43 1/4 × 2 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund

Terms

canvas

Object number2005.1

Label TextIn December 1911, Corinth suffered a stroke that left him temporarily paralyzed on his left side and with chronic tremors in his hands. Handicapped and traumatized by his illness, Corinth turned from the Impressionist style that had defined his career and embraced a looser, Expressionist treatment of his subjects. One of the first paintings to be completed following his stroke, At the Mirror exemplifies Corinth’s new mode of painting. His wife, the artist Charlotte Berend, sits at her dressing table, while the artist watches over her shoulder. The angle of their reflection in the mirror suggests that we take on the artist’s perspective. While Corinth had earlier used portraits as a means for self-revelation, here he presents both himself and Charlotte in a more generalized manner, distancing the figures. Given Corinth’s state of anxiety and depression during this period, the inscrutability of the artist’s gaze as he melds into the background perhaps indicates his psychological state. ProvenanceThe artist to daughter, Wilhelmeina Corinth Kopfler, descended to son, George Hecker, sold to the Worcester Art Museum, 2005.

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