Three graces

Three Graces (1904), held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, enters the long tradition of depicting the mythological trio as embodiments of beauty, mirth, and abundance. Where neoclassical predecessors rendered the Graces in cool, idealised marble-like flesh, Corinth treats them as emphatically physical, present bodies. His version is closer in spirit to Rubens than to Canova, insisting on the weight and warmth of actual women rather than idealised types. The painting belongs to a series of mythological nudes Corinth executed in the early 1900s as he asserted his position as successor to the great Northern European tradition of figure painting—a deliberate claim of lineage against the decorative refinements of French Post-Impressionism.

The three figures are arranged in the traditional linked pose, but Corinth's handling strips away classical smoothness in favour of vigorous, directional brushstrokes that give the flesh a sense of life and movement. Warm pinks, ochres, and creams are set against a loosely indicated landscape. The paint surface is richly built up, especially in the lighter areas of the torsos.