Marc, Franz (1880–1916). German painter (and occasional printmaker and sculptor), born in Munich, where he spent most of his life. He was the son of a landscape painter and after studying philosophy and theology at Munich University he switched to painting and trained at the Academy, 1900–2. His early work was in an academic style, but visits to Paris in 1903 and 1907 introduced him to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He was particularly impressed by the work of van Gogh, under whose influence his style moved towards Expressionism. In 1910 he met August Macke, who became his closest friend, and in the same year he was greatly impressed with an exhibition of Matisse's work in Munich. At the beginning of 1911 he became a member of the Neue Künstlervereinigung and at the end of the year he joined Kandinsky and others in founding a splinter group, the Blaue Reiter. On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 he volunteered almost immediately for the army, but his initial mood of elation changed after Macke was killed in action the following month. Marc himself died in combat at Verdun in March 1916. He was unable to paint while he was in the army, but his drawings and letters show how appalled he was by the carnage he saw.

Marc had a deeply religious disposition (he visited Mount Athos in Greece, with its famous monasteries, in 1906), and the death of his father in 1907 brought on him a sense of profound spiritual malaise. Through painting he sought to uncover mystical inner forces that animate nature. His ideas were expressed most forcibly in paintings of animals (eventually they became his exclusive subject), for he believed they were both more beautiful and more spiritual than man: ‘The ungodly human beings who surrounded me did not arouse my true emotions, whereas the inherent feel for life in animals made all that was good in me come out.’ He visited the zoo in Berlin several times and from 1907 to 1910 earned a good part of his living by teaching animal anatomy to artists. There was a vogue for animal painting in Munich at this time, but Marc's approach was radically different to that of any of his contemporaries. Using nonnaturalistic, symbolic colour and simplified rhythmic shapes, he said he tried to paint animals not as we see them, but as they feel their own existence. In a letter to Macke in December 1910 he explained the emotional value he assigned to colours: ‘Blue is the main principle, astringent and spiritual. Yellow is the female principle, gentle, gay and spiritual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy and always the colour to be opposed and overcome by the other two.’

In 1912 Marc saw an exhibition of Futurist paintings in Berlin and also met Delaunay in Paris. These events helped to move his work towards abstraction, as in Animal Destinies ( Kunstmuseum, Basle, 1913), one of his most celebrated paintings, which uses panicstricken animals to symbolize a world on the edge of destruction. On the back of the picture he wrote: ‘Und alles Sein ist flammend Leid’ (And all being is flaming suffering), and later, whilst serving at the front, he remarked of this work: ‘It is like a premonition of this war, terrible and gripping, I can hardly believe I painted it.’ His final paintings became still more abstract, losing almost entirely any representational content, as in Fighting Forms (Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1914), an image of convulsive fury in which there are the merest suggestions of beak- and claw-like forms. These late works are considered to be among the most powerful representatives of German Expressionism.

Franz Marc

The German painter Franz Marc (1880-1916) was a cofounder of the Blaue Reiter, or Blue Rider, an influential avant-garde art group.

Franz Marc was born on Feb. 8, 1880, in Munich, the son of a painter. At the age of 20 Franz entered the Munich Academy, which had a strong academic tradition. His earliest works show the influence of the decorative, linear Jugendstil that flourished in his youth.

In 1903 Marc made his first trip to Paris, where he came into contact with impressionism. He had originally intended to become a theologian, and he now carried his religious inclinations into his pictorial investigations, treating the shapes of nature as images filled with secret meaning. He used certain cubist formal elements to imbue his art with a kind of mystical constructivism. The animal images for which he is best known are the expression of his deep union with all creation. In 1907, fleeing from an undesirable marriage, Marc revisited Paris, where the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh made a deep impression on him.

In 1909, together with Wassily Kandinsky, Marc prepared the almanac Der blaue Reiter. He discovered the great possibilities of color as a means of expression in 1910 through August Macke, who was fascinated by the Fauves. In the same year Marc moved to Sindelsdorf, where he had his first exhibition. When, in 1911, Kandinsky's Neue Künstlervereinigung (New Artists' Federation) broke up, Marc, Kandinsky, Alfred Kubin, and Gabriele Münter exhibited on December 18 in the Galerie Tannhauser as the Blaue Reiter group. This show marks one of the most important dates of the German modern movement.

From then on Marc went his own way, deepening his vision into a kind of nature symbolism. Even his colors were conceived in a symbolic manner. In the series of animal paintings of 1911, of which Red Horses is the best known, Marc detached color from nature and gave it a radiant independent life. In 1912 he met Robert Delaunay, whose Orphism was an important source of inspiration to Marc. His large animal compositions of 1912-1913, such as Tower of the Blue Horses and Animal Destinies, radiate great power. Tirol (1913-1914) offers a complex dynamics in which landscape and light, planes and lines interact. In 1914 Marc took a step toward emotional abstractionism in paintings with titles such as Serene, Playful, and Struggling.

Marc entered the army when World War I broke out. He stopped painting, but he kept a sketchbook in which he depicted problems of growth, such as Plant Life Coming into Being and Arsenal for Creation. On March 4, 1916, he was killed at Verdun.

Further Reading

Most of the literature on Marc is in German. Klaus Lankheit, Franz Marc: Watercolours, Drawings, Writings (1950; trans. 1960), is a useful work. Background studies include Werner Haftmann and others, German Art of the Twentieth Century, edited by Andrew C. Ritchie (1957), and Haftmann's Painting in the Twentieth Century, vol. 1 (trans. 1960; 2d ed. 1965); Bernard S. Myers, The German Expressionists: A Generation in Revolt (1957); Peter Selz, German Expressionist Painting (1957); and Franz Roh, German Art in the 20th Century (1958; trans. 1968).

Additional Sources

Marc, Franz, Letters from the war, New York: P. Lang, 1992.

Levine, Frederick S., The apocalyptic vision: the art of Franz Marc as German expressionism, New York: Harper & Row, 1979. □

Marc, Franz (b Munich, 8 Feb. 1880; d nr. Verdun, 4 Mar. 1916). German painter, active mainly in Munich. His early work was in an academic style, but visits to Paris in 1903 and 1907 introduced him to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He was particularly impressed by the work of van Gogh, under whose influence his style moved towards Expressionism. In 1910 he met August Macke, who became his closest friend, and also Kandinsky; with them he was a leading member of the Blaue Reiter group, founded in 1911. Marc was of a deeply religious disposition (in 1906 he visited Mount Athos in Greece with its famous monasteries) and was troubled by a profound spiritual malaise; through painting he sought to uncover mystical inner forces that animate nature. His ideas were expressed most intensely in paintings of animals, for he believed that they were both more beautiful and more spiritual than man. Using non-naturalistic symbolic colour and simplified, rhythmic shapes, he tried to paint animals not as we see them, but as they feel their own existence (Blue Horses, 1911, Minneapolis Inst. of Arts). In a letter to Macke in December 1910 he explained the emotional value he assigned to colours: ‘Blue is the main principle, astringent and spiritual. Yellow is the female principle, gentle, gay and spiritual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy and always the colour to be opposed and overcome by the other two.’

In 1912 Marc saw an exhibition of Futurist paintings in Berlin and also met Delaunay in Paris. These events helped to move his work towards abstraction, as in Animal Destinies (1913, Kunstmuseum, Basle), one of his most celebrated paintings, which uses panic-stricken animals to symbolize a world on the edge of destruction; on the back of the picture he wrote: ‘Und alles Sein ist flammend Leid’ (And all being is flaming suffering). By 1914, his paintings had become still more abstract, losing almost entirely any representational content, as in Fighting Forms (1914, Neue Pin., Munich), an image of convulsive fury in which there are the merest suggestions of beak- and clawlike forms. These last paintings are considered among the culminating works of German Expressionism. Marc was killed in action in the First World War.

Marc, Franz (1880–1916). German painter, active mainly in his native Munich. His early work was in an academic style, but visits to Paris in 1903 and 1907 introduced him to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He was particularly impressed by the work of van Gogh, under whose influence his style moved towards Expressionism. In 1910 he met August Macke, who became his closest friend, and also Kandinsky; with them he was a leading member of the Blaue Reiter group, founded in 1911. Marc was of a deeply religious disposition (in 1906 he visited Mount Athos in Greece with its famous monasteries) and was troubled by a profound spiritual malaise; through painting he sought to uncover mystical inner forces that animate nature. His ideas were expressed most intensely in paintings of animals, for he believed that they were both more beautiful and more spiritual than man. Using non-naturalistic symbolic colour and simplified, rhythmic shapes, he tried to paint animals not as we see them, but as they feel their own existence (Blue Horses, 1911, Minneapolis Inst. of Arts). In 1912 Marc saw an exhibition of Futurist paintings in Berlin and also met Delaunay in Paris. These events helped to move his work towards abstraction, as in Animal Destinies (1913, Kunstmuseum, Basle), which uses panic-stricken animals to symbolize a world on the edge of destruction; on the back of the picture he wrote: ‘Und alles Sein ist flammend Leid’ (And all being is flaming suffering). By 1914, his paintings had become still more abstract, losing almost entirely any representational content, as in Fighting Forms (1914, Neue Pin., Munich), an image of convulsive fury in which there are the merest suggestions of beak- and claw-like forms. These last paintings are considered among the culminating works of German Expressionism. Marc was killed in action in the First World War.

Franz Marc , 1880–1916, German painter. Influenced by August Macke , he developed a rich, chromatic symbolism. He depicted a mystical world of animals, especially horses, employing devices of distortion to express the animals' own awareness of their lives. Marc's pictorial conception of nature became increasingly abstract, resulting in the formation of colorful, crystalline patterns. Together with Kandinsky and Klee , Marc was a leader of the Blaue Reiter group. He was killed in World War I. Characteristic examples of his art are the Gazelle (Mus. of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.) and Blue Horses (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minn.).

Bibliography: See study by G. Schmidt (tr. 1960).