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Franz Marc
German Expressionist Painter
1880-1916
Self-Portrait in Breton Costume: ca 1904
Franz Marc will forever be remembered for his paintings of animals in brilliant colors and simplified, nearly cubist forms.
Paintings like The Red Horses express a sense of beauty and perfection. The artist died in action in World War I at the age of only 36.
Grazing Horses IV: 1911
aka Red Horses
By early 1911 Marc had already developed a symbolism for his use of color. In this, he followed a pattern established by an early-nineteenth-century German Romantic painter, and Marc's friend Kandinsky. Marc ascribed spirituality and maleness to blue, femininity and sensuality to yellow, and terrestrial materiality to red. The context in which Marc worked suggests he employed these correspondences programmatically, for Kandinsky was extremely serious about color symbolism, and the Symbolists, with whom Kandinsky and Marc had much in common, were likewise interested in such ideas. Marc wrote:
"Every color must say clearly 'who and what it is, and must, moreover, be related to a clear form"
Born in Munich
Franz Marc was born in Munich, Germany on February 8, 1880. His father worked as a professor at the
Munich Academy of Fine Arts. The young boy originally wanted to become a priest. Then he decided to study philosophy. But both ideas were abandoned and in 1900 he took painting classes at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.
Paris was at that time the center of the arts. Impressionism had revolutionized the traditional art world. Traveling to Paris and studying the modern painters like
Claude Monet,
Vincent van Gogh, or
Paul Gauguin was a must for a progressive young artist. Marc Franz undertook several travels to Paris - the first in 1903 and again in 1907 and in 1912. He was deeply influenced by the modern French painters.
Early Works of Franz Marc
Alpine Herdsman in his Cottage: 1902
Boy with Sled in a Winter Landscape: ca 1902
Cottages on the Dachau Marsd: 1902
Heather: 1902
Portrait of the Artist's Father: 1902
Portrait of the Artist's Mother: 1902
Portrait of a Friend: 1902
Steffelalm II with Sheep: 1902
Young Herdsman: 1902
Alpine Landscape with Flock of Sheep: 1903
Alpine Landscape with Fog: 1903
Children on a Boat: 1903
Dancing Fishermen in Brittany: 1903
View of Staffelalm: 1903
In Indersdorf: 1904
The Dead Sparrow: 1905
Hay Wagon:1905
Small Study of a Horse I: 1905
Small Study of a Horse II: 1905
Girl's Head (Maria Franck): 1906
Laundry Fluttering in the Wind: 1906
Maria Franck in a White Cap:1906
Maria Franck with Palette:1906
Monkeys on a Cart: 1906
Seated Farmer's Wife with a Chicken in her Lap: 1906
Sketch of Horses I: 1906
Sketch of Horses II: 1906
Sketch of Horses III: 1906
Two Women on the Hillside, Sketch: 1906
Two Women on a Hillside (Detail): 1906
Woman in a Winter Landscape on a Green Bench: 1906
Woman Reading in a Meadow: 1906
Woman Standing in a Winter Landscape: 1906
The Artist's Father on his Sick Bed: 1906-07
Horses by the Sea: 1907
Nude Girl: 1907
Rider by the Sea: 1907
Sheath of Grain: 1907
Slaughtered Bull: 1907
Woman in the Wind by the Sea: 1907
Deer at the Edge of the Forest: 1908
Flock of Sheep I: 1908
Flock of Sheep II: 1908
Jumping Dog "Schick": 1908
Larch Sapling: 1908
Large Lenggries Horse Painting: 1908
Little Reed Stack near Brunnerbach: 1908
Nude on a Mountain Peak: 1908
Orpheus with Animals, Design for a Tapestry: 1907-08
Study in Green: 1908
Cat Basket: 1909
Composition of Nudes II: 1909
Deer at Dusk: 1909
Deer in the Reeds: 1909
Foals at Pasture: 1909
Forest Interior with Deer: 1909
Large Landscape I: 1909
Large Study of Stones: 1909
Little Oak Tree: 1909
Little Study of Stones: 1909
Lying Dog: 1909
Mare with a Foal: 1909
Nude Study: 1909
Reed Stacks: 1909
Shepherdess with Sheep: 1908
Siberian Dog: 1909
Siberian Sheepdogs: 1909
Small Horse Picture: 1909
Snow Covered Woods: 1909
Study of a Horse: 1908-09
Two Grey Cats: 1909
Wild Rabbit: 1909
Bathing Girls: 1910
Bathing Women: 1910
Cats: 1909-10
Composition with Nudes I: 1909-10
Deer in the Snow I: 1909-10
Girl with Cat: 1910
Grazing Horses: 1910
Grazing Horses II: 1910
Haystacks: ca 1910
Horse in a Landscape: 1910
Horse at Pasture: 1910
Horse at Pasture I: 1910
Horses at Watering Place: 1910
Horses in a Pasture II: 1910
Jumping Horses: 1910
Landscape - Foothills of the Alps: 1909-10
Nude Lying among Flowers: 1910
Nudes on Vermilion: 1910
Nudes on Vermilon (Sketch): 1909-10
Nude with Cat: 1910
Two Horses at a Watering Place: 1910
Washerwoman with Child: ca 1910
The Blue Rider
Wassily Kandinsky later recalled how the name Blue Rider was born:
"Franz Marc and I chose this name as we were having coffee one day on the shady terrace of Sindelsdorf.
Both of us liked blue, Marc for horses, I for riders. So the name Blue Rider came by itself."
For Franz Marc the group had become something like a home. He suddenly had companions with whom he could exchange his ideas about art. He developed a close friendship with Kandinsky and with August Macke. The group had a very positive effect on Marc's creativity. His artistic output nearly exploded - both in quality and in quantity.
The
Munich Tannhauser Gallery was the exhibition platform for the group. In 1911 The Blue Rider had a group exhibition. And in 1913 Tannhauser organized a solo exhibition for the artist.
Franz Marc and his View on Animals
Nearly all works of art created by Franz Marc show animals. He liked animals and saw in them innocent beings in harmony with nature. He wanted to paint the world out of the perspective of the animal. Marc was a very sensitive and spiritual man. Today, only hundred years later, it is not quite easy to understand the ideas of this artist and others, although they were documented in articles, books and letters.
Fighting Forms
In one of his last paintings, titled Fighting Forms from 1914, the artist had abandoned figural painting. He certainly created this painting under the influence of Wassily Kandinsky who had arrived at this step four years earlier. Kandinsky then had left figural painting for the first time and in 1912 he had published a book about the theory of abstraction. It is pure speculation how Marc Franz would have developed his style if his life had not been finished so abruptly at the age of 36.
Marc and Macke volunteered for the German military service when World War I broke out. They had the idea that the war would be some kind of a purification of a spoiled and rotten civilization. Macke was killed in action at the very beginning of the war in 1914. And Marc, shell-shocked by what he saw and experienced, soon changed his opinion. In 1915 he wrote:
"War is one of the most evil things to which we sacrificed ourselves."
On March 4, 1916 he was killed in action.
The Blue Rider Period is dated from 1911 - 1914 and will see the impact that World War I had upon Franz Marc in this final phase of his life and painting.
~ Senex
Blue is the male principle, stern and spiritual. Yellow the female principle, gentle, cheerful and sensual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy and always the colour which must be fought and vanquished by the other two. ~ Franz Marc
Black Birds: 1911
Blue Black Fox: 1911
Blue Horse I: 1911
Blue Horse II: 1911
Bull: 1911
Children's Picture: 1910-11
Cows, Red, Green, Yellow: 1911
Cows under Trees: 1910-11
Crouching Deer: 1911
Deer in the Forest I: 1911
Deer in the Snow II: 1911
Dog Lying in the Snow: 1910-11
Donkey Frieze: 1911
Fighting Cows: 1911
Haystack in the Snow: 1911
Henri Rousseau: 1911
Interior with Man and Woman in Old German Costume: ca 1911
Landscape with Animals and Rainbow: 1911
The Large Blue Horse: 1911
The Little Blue Horse: 1911
Lying Horse: 1911
Monkey Frieze: 1911
Nudes in the Open Air: 1911
Red Deer I: 1910-11
Red Dog: 1911
Ruhende Kuhe: 1911
'Russi' Lying: 1910-11
Stags in the Woods: 1911
The Steer: 1911
Three Deer: 1911
Two Standing Nudes with Green Rock: 1910-11
Woodcutter: 1911
The Yellow Cow: 1911
The Yellow Cow (Sketch): 1911
Young Boy with a Lamb: 1911
Art is nothing but the expression of our dream; the more we surrender to it the closer we get to the inner truth of things, our dream-life, the true life that scorns questions and does not see them. ~ Franz Marc
Alpine Scene: 1912
Antilope: 1912
Cats - Red and White: 1912
Cat with Kittens: 1912
Cows: 1912
Deer:1912
Deer in the Forest II: 1912
Deer in a Monastery Garden: 1912
The Dream: 1912
Fabulous Beast: 1912
The Fear of the Hare: 1912
Forest Interior with Bird: 1912
Girl with Cat II: 1912
Green Horse: 1912
Horse and Donkey: 1912
Horses and Eagle: 1912
In the Rain: 1912
Jumping Horse: 1912
The Little Blue Horse, Picture for a Child: 1912
The Little Monkey: 1912
The Little Yellow Horses: 1912
Mare with Foals: 1912
What appears spectral today will be natural tomorrow. ~ Franz Marc
Mountains: 1911-12
Nudes: 1912
Pigs: 1912
Playing Dogs: ca 1912
Playing Monkeys: 1912
Rain: 1912
Red and Blue Horse: 1912
Red Bull: 1912
Red Deer II: 1912
Red Woman: 1912
Shepherds: 1912
Sitting Horse: 1912
Sleeping Deer: 1912
Three Animals (Dog, Fox, and Cat): 1912
Three Horses: 1912
Tiger: 1912
Tiger in Jungle: 1912
Two Blue Donkeys: 1912
Two Cats, Blue and Yellow: 1912
Two Female Nudes: 1912
Two Horses: 1911-12
Two Horses in Landscape: ca 1912
Two Horses, Red and Blue: 1912
Two Nude Women: 1912
The Waterfall: 1912
The White Cat: 1912
The White Dog1912
Today we are searching for things in nature that are hidden behind the veil of appearance... We look for and paint this inner, spiritual side of nature. ~ Franz Marc
Abstract Composition: 1913
Birds above the Village: 1913
Birth of the Horses: 1913
Bison in Winter: 1913
Black Cow behind a Tree: 1913
The Blue Foals: 1913
Blue Lamb: 1913
Bluish Fabulous Beast: 1913
Bull: 1913
Calf and Pig: 1913
Cattle: 1913
Dead Deer: 1913
Deer in a Flower Garden: 1913
Deer in the Forest: 1913
Dog in Expectation: 1913
Dream: 1913
Dreaming Horses: 1913
The Dream Rock: 1913
Elephant: 1913
The Enchanted Mill: 1913
Fabulous Beast II: 1913
Fabulous Beast II: 1913
Fabulous Beast II: 1913
Fabulous Beasts: 1913
Fairy Animals: 1913
Fate of the Animals: ca 1913
The First Animals: ca 1913
Four Foxes: 1913
Foxes: 1913
Foxes: 1913
From the Hunting Fields of Prince Jussuff: 1913
From King Jussuff's Nights: 1913
From the Royal Town of Thebes: 1913
Gazelles: 1913
Green and White Horse: 1913
The Holy Calf: 1913
Horse and House with Rainbow: 1913
Horse and House with Rainbow: 1913
Horse Asleep: 1913
Ibex: 1913
Ibexes: 1913
Ibexes: 1913
Jumping Horse: 1913
King Abegail's Toy Horse: 1913
Landscape with Black Horses: 1913
Landscape with Rainbow: 1913
Landscape with Red Animal: 1913
Landscape with Two Horses: 1913
Little Black Horse: 1913
Little Horse in Cool Pink: 1913
Long Yellow Horse: 1913
Lying Bull: 1913
Lying Red Cow: 1913
Lying Red Stag: 1913
Serious art has been the work of individual artists whose art has had nothing to do with style because they were not in the least connected with the style or the needs of the masses. Their work arose rather in defiance of their times. ~ Franz Marc
The Mandrill: 1913
Middle Part of a Three Part Firescreen with Landscape and animal like Elements: 1913
The Mother Mare of the Blue Horses I: 1913
The Mother Mare of the Blue Horses II: 1913
Mountain Goats: 1913
Mountain Landscape with Rainbow (Left Hand Part of Three Part Fire Screen): 1913
The Negresss Toilette: 1913
Noah with the Foxes: 1913
A Picture from Jussuff's Peaceable Times: 1913
Pigs under a Tree: 1913
Playing Cats: 1913
Prince Jussuff's Lemon Horse and Fire Ox: 1913
Red and Blue Horse: 1913
Red and Blue Horse in a Landscape: 1913
Red and Yellow Cow: 1913
Red and Yellow Deer: 1913
Red Cattle: 1913
Red Deer: 1913
Red Deer: 1912-13
Red Horse with Black Figures: 1913
Red Indian Horses: 1913
Resting Animal: 1913
Sacrificial Lamb from Lana: 1913
Saint Julian: 1913
Seated Mythical Animal: 1913
Seated Saint: 1913
Six Monkeys: 1913
Sleeping Animals: 1913
Sleeping Deer: 1913
Small Composition I: 1913
Small Picture with Cattle: 1913
Sonatine for Violin and Piano: 1913
Stables: 1913
Stables: 1913
Three Animals on the Blue Mountain: 1913
Three Cats: 1913
Three Fabulous Beasts: 1913
Three Horses I: 1913
Three Horses II: 1913
Three Horses in Landscape with Houses: 1913
The Three Panthers of King Jussuff: 1913
The Tower of Blue Horses: 1912-13
The Tower of Blue Horses: 1913
Two Animals: 1913
Two Animals: 1913
Two Blue Horses: 1913
Two Blue Horses in front of a Red Rock: 1913
Two Cats: 1913
Two Foxes: 1913
Two Horses: 1913
Two Horses in front of a Blue Mountain: 1913
Two Little Blue Horses: 1913
Two Monkeys: 1913
Two Reclining Black Cats: 1913
Two Sheep: 1913
Two Wild Cats: 1913
Two Wolves: 1913
Two Yellow Animals: 1913
The Unfortunate Land of Tyrol: 1913
Vermilion Greeting: 1913
The War Horse of Prince Jussuff: 1913
The Watering Place at the Ruby Mountain: 1913
Wild Pigs (Boar and Sow): 1913
The Wolves: 1913
Wood with Squirrel: 1913
The World Cow: 1913
Yellow Female Nude Seated: 1913
Abstract Composition: 1913-14
Abstract Forms II: 1914
Animals in Landscape: 1914
Birds: 1914
Broken Forms: 1914
Caliban Figure for Shakespeare's Tempest: 1914
Cheerful Forms: 1914
Coloful Flowers: 1913-14
Composition of Animals: 1913-14
Composition of Animals II: 1913-14
Cow and Sheep: 1914
Deer in the Forest II: 1914
Elephant, Horse, Cattle: 1914
Fighting Forms: 1914
The Four Companion Dogs of Prince Jussuff: 1914
Landscape with House and Two Cows: 1914
The Little Mountain Goats: 1914
Miranda Figure for Shakespeare's Tempest: 1914
Mountain Goats: 1914
Our Villa: 1914
Playing Forms: 1914
Ried Castle: 1914
Sheep: 1914
Small Composition II: 1914
Small Composition III: 1914
Small Composition IV: 1914
Small Fabulous Beast: 1914
Three Horses at the Watering Place: 1913-14
Tyrol: 1914
Yellow Lion, Blue Foxes, Blue Horse: 1914
Abstract Mountain Landscape with Fabulous Beast: 1914-15
Goblet with Fox and Roebuck: 1915
Peaceful Country: Date Unknown
Like everything genuine, its inner life guarantees its truth. All works of art created by truthful minds without regard for the
work's conventional exterior remain genuine for all times. ~ Franz Marc
Related Source Material:
This page is the work of Senex Magister
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