Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter, a journal whose name later became synonymous with the circle of artists collaborating in it.
Paintings by Franz Marc
Fate of the Animals (1913)
Fate of the Animals is an oil on canvas painting by Franz Marc created in 1913. In contrast to most of Marc's other works, this painting presents animals in a brutal way rather than depicting them in a peaceful manner. The reasons for Marc's strong ties with animals as his subjects remain uncertain, but it is thought to stem from his childhood dog. Fate of the Animals remains one of Marc's most famous pieces and displays the Der Blaue Reiter style that he co-founded with Wassily Kandinsky. The painting currently resides in the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland.
In 1916, after Marc's death, "[t]he entire right side of the painting was burned beyond recognition." It was restored by one of his close friends, Paul Klee, who used old photographs but painted the burned section "in a kind of dull brown that mutes the colors completely." Scholars have yet to agree on why he changed the original color. Morgan Meis writes:Probably, Klee chose to paint his section in dull brown for the obvious reason that he didn't want to produce a "forgery" as it were. He didn't want to make it seem as if he, or anyone else, was trying to fool anyone.... [The] restoration is honest about the fact that it is a restoration.... And the brown is a testimony to the fact that the painting was burned, that the color was burned out of it.
Yellow Cow (1911)
Yellow Cow (German: Gelbe Kuh) is a painting by the German artist Franz Marc, dating to 1911. It is one of the artist's most well known works, and is one of several of his depictions of animals in Expressionist style. This work is oil on canvas and measures 140.5 x 189.2 centimeters. The central motif of the painting is a jumping cow, surrounded by a colorful, structured landscape. The painting is characterized by the contrast between the dynamic central motif and the calm background.
The painting is in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and has been shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
The Tower of Blue Horses (1914)
The Tower of Blue Horses (German: Der Turm der blauen Pferde) is a 1913 oil painting by the German Expressionist artist Franz Marc. It has been called one of his best works, but went missing in 1945.
The Tower of Blue Horses was a large work, 200 by 130 centimetres (6 ft 7 in × 4 ft 3 in). Most of the picture is occupied by a frontal view of four primarily blue horses, arranged in a tier to the right of centre, facing the viewer but with their heads turned to the left; the foremost horse seemed "only a little less than life size" to at least one writer. To the left of their rumps, which form the centre of the picture, is an abstract landscape; above it is an orange rainbow on a yellow background. The foremost horse has a crescent moon on its chest, and crosses on its body which suggest stars.
Blue Horse I (1911)
Blue Horse I is an oil painting by Franz Marc completed in 1911. It is one of the painter's most famous works and is part of the collection of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. The painting was part of several exhibitions that Franz Marc and fellow Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky presented to the public under the name Der Blaue Reiter from late 1911 until 1914.
In 1911, Marc drew in his sketchbook no. XXIV a pencil drawing, about the size of a postcard, entitled Young Horse in Mountain Landscape, which already shows the composition of the later painting. In the same year, he transcribed the sketch in great detail into a large oil painting.
Blue Horses (1911)
Blue Horses (German: Die grossen blauen Pferde) (The Large Blue Horses) is a 1911 painting by German painter and printmaker Franz Marc (1880–1916).
In 1911 Marc was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), and was the center of a circle of German and Russian expatriate artists along with August Macke, Wassily Kandinsky, and several others whose works were seminal to the development of German Expressionism.
Hut in Dachau Moors (1902)
Hut in Dachau Moors is an oil on canvas painting by Franz Marc, executed in 1902. It is one of the painter's earliest known paintings and is part of the collection of the Franz Marc Museum, in Kochel am See.
The painting was created in 1902 and thus comes from the time when Franz Marc studied painting at the Academy of Arts in Munich with Gabriel von Hackl (1843–1926) and Wilhelm von Diez (1839–1907). Through this, Marc received a solid basic education in the 19th century style of painting, but did not come into contact with newer art movements. Thus this picture, like others made in the same year, is entirely in the tradition of the Munich School.
Fox (Marc) (1911)
Fox, also known as Blue and Black Fox or Blue Fox, is an oil on canvas painting by Franz Marc, from 1911. It is part of the collection of the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal.
The painting was created in July 1911 in fellow painter August Macke's studio in Bonn, when Marc was returning from a trip to England. A few months later, on December 18, 1911, the exhibition group Der Blaue Reiter, founded by Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky, had its first exhibition, in Munich. Marc quickly created Fox, together with the work Red Dog. The Fox was offered to the curator of the Barmer Kunstverein, Richart Reiche, who was exhibiting Marc's works. Reiche was able to find a buyer for the Red Dog. These two paintings belong to his early group of animal representations in which pure colors were used, in the function of symbols or the so-called essential colors. With the colors red / yellow / blue (primary colors) and orange / green / violet (secondary colors), Marc used the system of spectral colors as a basis in this painting.
Little Blue Horse (1912)
Little Blue Horse is an oil on canvas painting by German Expressionist painter Franz Marc, from 1912. it is held in the Saarland Museum, in Saarbrücken.
The has the dimensions of 57.5 x 73 centimeters. It is in the collection of the Saarland Museum, in Saarbrücken. The picture depicts a young horse in the foreground, standing with its legs in a balanced position. There is a small stream at his side, and behind the horse, we can see a flowering plant in front of a mountainous landscape. The horse has a blue color, while the mountains and the sky alternate between the red, yellow, blue and orange colours.
The Dream (1912)
The dream
Indersdorf (1904)
Indersdorf is an oil on canvas painting by Franz Marc executed in 1904. It is in the collection of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich.
The painting was made in 1904 at a time when Franz Marc stayed several times in Markt Indersdorf in the Dachau district. The previous year Marc had done a trip to France where he met the work of the impressionist painters for the first time. After his return he left his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and was now searching for his own style with lighter and stronger colors.
The Foxes (Marc) (1913)
The Foxes (German: Die Füchse) is a 1913 painting by German painter Franz Marc. It was held by the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf until returned to the heirs of Kurt Grawi in 2022, and sold at auction by them.
Prior to painting The Foxes in 1913, Marc was inspired by French Cubism and the Orphic works of Robert Delaunay. The Foxes reflects Marc's breakdown of the animals into abstract forms, presented in harmonized colors. The crystalline composition resembles stained glass windows in medieval churches.
Two Women on the Hillside (1906)
Two Women on the Hillside is an oil-on-canvas painting created in 1906 by German painter Franz Marc. It is part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections and is on a permanent loan at the Franz Marc Museum in Kochel am See.
Marc met the fellow painters Marie Schnür and Maria Franck in 1905, who would both later become his wives. He spent the summer of 1906 in Kochel. He painted the women at outdoors on an alpine pasture. He first made the current small oil sketch, from which he later painted a large-format oil painting. On August 1, 1906, he wrote to Maria Franck: “The picture of you two has already been drawn.” Later he cut up the large painting. The remainder of this is the portrait of Maria Marc in the Murnau Castle Museum.