Franz Marc was a German painter, who was one of the founders of the Expressionist movement in the beginning of the twentieth century. The style of art known as expressionism originated in Germany. An expressionist painter will paint subjects the way they see it, not necessarily the way it truly is. They use distorted or exaggerated forms, lines, shapes and color to show their emotions and feelings. Franz Marc was known for his animal paintings, especially of horses. He’s also known for his use of colors having special meanings. He wouldn’t paint the animals in the real colors you would expect to see . Initially, Marc’s work is characterized by vibrant primary colors and animals represented in a cubist style. In later years, his work becomes more abstract and futuristic. Franz Marc was one of the great painters of the German Expressionist movement and his masterpieces are well known worldwide.
Franz Marc was born in a town called Munich which is in Germany on February 8, 1880. He soon followed his dad in becoming a painter after almost becoming a priest and then a school teacher. In 1900, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts after he spent time with French Impressionists in Paris, France. When he was in Paris, he visited many art museums and imitated some of the artists’ paintings. He also went to artistic circles and met many artists who helped him improve. Marc started a friendship with August Macke and together they formed an artists circle called Der Blaue Reiter or Blue Rider in 1911. Other artists split off from other movements to join theirs. Marc started having exhibitions that year in December and January 1912. This is when the movement of Expressionism started.
Marc had soon met more artists, but Robert Delaunay inspired him the most with his use of colors and methods. The use of colors was a very important factor in Marc’s paintings. The colors had emotional significance. For instance, yellow represented feminine joy and happiness and blue represented masculinity. To Marc, the spiritual component of his art was very important. He often had animals at the center of his paintings together with curved lines giving a sense of harmony, balance and peace. His painting called Die Grossen Blauen Pferde, or The Large Blue Horses, uses this technique. Another painting Gelbe Kuh, or Yellow Cow, depicts a happy female cow. When Marc met French artist Robert Delaunay and other Italian Futurists, his style changed and it was the beginning of his new kind of art, abstract in nature. The methods were cubism and futurism.
In 1914, Marc fought in World War I. Two years later on March 4th, he was killed instantly in the Battle of Verdun by a shell splinter. Orders to have him removed from the war because of his artistic talent had been issued but not carried out yet. In 1913, Marc painted, what is probably his best known painting, called Tierschicksale, or Animal Destinies or Fate of the Animals. In a letter to his wife speaking about this painting Marc said it “is like a premonition of this war – horrible and shattering. I can hardly conceive that I painted it.” (csa). Marc’s work and his paintings of animals changes right before the First World War. There isn’t the same sense of peace and harmony that there used to be. Instead there is a sense of doom. He no longer sees the beauty in animals that he once saw. In his last paintings, it is very difficult to see any animals since the subjects are unrecognizable forms and the style is very abstract. One of his last paintings Kampfende Formen or Fighting Forms is mainly one red swirling shape next to another black swirling shape. He went from painting animals to using lines and geometric shapes.
Franz Marc is known for his style of abstract expressionism. The use of symbolic vivid colors consisting of blues, greens, yellows and reds and his use of lines and shapes describes what the painter is trying to convey or express. In the beginning of his career as a painter, Marc’s works expressed peace and harmony and towards the end, his work expressed the darkness he felt in the world because of the events he was experiencing. He was a gifted and talented artist who left the world his valuable works of art.
Bibliography
New Standard Encyclopedia. 1994, Volume 11.
Unknown. “Franz Marc- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”
