Franz Marc (1880 - 1916), German painter and printmaker who is known for the intense mysticism of his paintings of animals. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”), an association of German Expressionist artists.
Although his career was cut short by his early death, Franz Marc had a tremendous impact on the various Expressionist movements that would evolve after World War I. After early experiments with Naturalism and Realism, Marc later eschewed those styles in favor of the greater symbolic potential of abstraction. He is most famous for his images of brightly colored animals, especially horses, which he used to convey profound messages about humanity, the natural world, and the fate of mankind. In association with Russian painter and theorist Wassily Kandinsky, Marc founded the group Der Blaue Reiter, which emphasized the use of abstracted forms and bold colors. Their goal was to use form and symbolism as tools to overcome what they saw as the toxic state of the modern world. As World War I approached, the tension of Marc's paintings came into especially sharp focus, as if he anticipated both his own fate and that of Europe as a whole.
Marc looked to the natural world as an antidote to modern life, from which he felt increasingly alienated. Nature and animals were more than just pleasing to him; they were spiritual and a means of relocating what had been lost in the modern era. Thus, his paintings of animals are suffused with an almost meditative reverence.
Color was extremely important for Marc. Not only did he understand the potential for color to affect mood, he developed a specific theory of color symbolism. His analysis of color associated blue with the masculine, yellow with the feminine, and red with the physical - often violent - world.
Marc's work embodies the heightened anxieties of early-20th-century Europe, as people struggled with a rapidly changing, urban world on the precipice of war.
© 2023. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Franz Marc or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Franz Marc |
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| The Dead Sparrow, circa 1905 |
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| Siberian Dogs in the Snow, circa 1909-10 |
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| Bathing Girls, circa 1910 |
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| Horse in a Landscape, circa 1910 |
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| Blue Horse I, circa 1911 |
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| Dog Lying in the Snow, circa 1911 |
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| Fox, circa 1911 |
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| Grazing Horses IV, circa 1911 |
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| Haystacks in the Snow, circa 1911 |
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| Large Blue Horses, circa 1911 |
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| Monkey Frieze, circa 1911 |
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| The Yellow Cow, circa 1911 |
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| Deer in a Monastery Garden, circa 1912 |
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| Little Blue Horse, circa 1912 |
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| Little Yellow Horses, circa 1912 |
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| Red Deer II, circa 1912 |
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| The White Cat, circa 1912 |
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| The World Cow, circa 1912 |
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| Three Animals, circa 1912 |
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| Tiger, circa 1912 |
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| Two Cats, Blue and Yellow, circa 1912 |
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| Deer in the Forest, circa 1913 |
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| Dreaming Horse, circa 1913 |
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| Gazelles, circa 1913 |
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| The Bewitched Mill, circa 1913 |
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| The Foxes, circa 1913 |
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| The Tower of Blue Horses, circa 1913 |
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| Animals in Landscape, circa 1914 |
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| Deer in the Forest II, circa 1914 |
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| Fighting Forms, circa 1914 |
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| Forms at Play, circa 1914 |
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