After suffering a near-fatal stroke in 1911, Corinth often turned to painting his own image to reveal insight into his emotions. This candid, expressive painting is one of his finest self-portraits from the last decade of his life. His powerful, spontaneous style influenced the development of modernist painting in Germany. From 1915 to 1925, he served as president of the Berlin Secession, a group formed in opposition against state-sponsored art and which organized its own independent exhibitions.