Setting out for a ride 1913

Lovis Corinth made 'Setting out for a ride' with oil on canvas. There is something about the speedy brushstrokes that feels so immediate! The palette is earthy, but with moments of intense, bright red that feels like the chickens have just run in front of our feet. Corinth builds up the surface with thick layers of paint, really making the whole scene feel very textured and raw. Take a look at the way he’s rendered the horse's legs – those almost crude strokes of brown and cream really give a sense of the animal's weight and muscularity. It’s this attention to the physicality of the subject that makes the painting so engaging. Corinth reminds me a lot of Courbet, who was also interested in the real and the raw. There's a sense of the artist embracing the messy, imperfect nature of life, and that’s something I always find so compelling.