In the Slaughter House

Lovis Corinth completed this visceral scene in 1893, depicting workers in a slaughterhouse amid hanging carcasses. Raw flesh dominates the canvas with unflinching realism, the butchers going about their grim work with matter-of-fact efficiency. The painting confronts viewers with industrial death.

Corinth would later become a leading German Expressionist, but this early work shows his grounding in naturalistic observation. The slaughterhouse became an enduring motif in modern art, from Corinth to Chaim Soutine. The painting hangs at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.