Walchensee c. 1923

This is Walchensee by Lovis Corinth, an etching on paper. Look at those lines! It’s all about mark-making as a process here, isn’t it? Corinth gives us a landscape built from energy. See how the etching tool scratches and bites at the plate, creating these dense thickets of dark lines that form the mountains and trees? Then there are the sparser, more delicate lines that suggest the water and sky. It's almost like he’s wrestling with the landscape, trying to capture its essence through this physical act of drawing. Notice that dark, looming tree on the left – it anchors the whole composition. It feels both solid and fragile, a testament to the precariousness of existence. I see echoes of artists like Munch or even Van Gogh, artists who weren’t afraid to lay bare their souls on the surface of their work. In the end, art is just a conversation across time, isn't it? A continual questioning, with no definitive answers.