The Weapons Of Mars 1910

Lovis Corinth made The Weapons of Mars sometime between 1858 and 1925 with oil on canvas, and you can almost feel him wrestling with the figures on the canvas. The painting is a riot of flesh tones and gleaming metal. You can see Corinth laying down strokes of paint with such exuberance, it's like he’s trying to capture a fleeting moment, a quicksilver glimpse of humanity. I love the way Corinth handles paint, look at that pile of armor at the bottom, it's a chaotic jumble of light and shadow. Each stroke seems to dance and vibrate with energy. The paint is thick in places, almost sculptural, and then thin and translucent in others, creating a push and pull of depth and texture. I find myself thinking of Rubens, or even Titian, but Corinth brings something else. His approach is more raw, more immediate, like he’s trying to get at something primal, something fundamental about the human condition. Ultimately, it's the painting's ambiguity that makes it so compelling, it invites us to bring our own ideas.