Self portrait with his wife Charlotte Berend-Corinth and a sekt glass

This celebratory double portrait commemorates Corinth's marriage to the painter Charlotte Berend in 1902. The raised Sekt glass signals both festivity and the couple's bohemian self-presentation: two artists toasting their union rather than posing in the respectful distance of conventional bourgeois portraiture. Charlotte became not only Corinth's wife but a constant studio presence, modelling for dozens of major works over the following decades. The painting's informal, almost theatrical composition reflects the expansive confidence of his early Berlin years, when he was establishing himself as one of Germany's most vital figurative painters and embracing the city's appetite for personality-driven art.

Both figures are placed in close proximity, with the raised glass functioning as a compositional pivot between them. Corinth's brushwork is vigorous and wet, applying paint in overlapping strokes that blur edges and energise the surface. Warm artificial light emphasises the festive intimacy of the scene.