Flowers And Daughter Wilhelmine 1920

Lovis Corinth made this painting, Flowers And Daughter Wilhelmine, with oils, and you can really see the energy of the brushstrokes, can’t you? I can only imagine Corinth, palette in hand, really going for it with these big, confident gestures. Look at the way he’s built up the lilacs and lilies with such thick daubs of color. I wonder, was he trying to capture a fleeting moment, the way light hits the petals just so? Or maybe he was after something more, trying to capture a mood, a feeling, using color and texture to do it. The soft, muted palette gives the picture a kind of hazy, dreamlike quality, a feeling of nostalgia, maybe. And then there’s that figure of his daughter, almost hidden amongst the flowers and shadowy background. There's something so touching about this image. You can see the influence of impressionism but with a darker, more personal edge, a sensitivity that reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker. Artists, they’re always in conversation with one another, aren’t they?