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Historical Artist - Franz Marc (1880 - 1916)
Franz Marc is one of three leaders of the German art group, the Blaue Reiter, and was noted for
his paintings of animals. He initially studied theology in Munich, but began painting as a
spiritual activity. His focus on animals was a result of his profound religious devotion because
he admired the harmonious and divine interaction between animals and nature.
Franz Marc was born in 1880, in the German town of Munich. His father Wilhelm was a
professional landscape painter, and his mother Sophie was a strict Calvinist. In 1900 Franz Marc
began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1903 and 1907 he spent time in Paris
and discovered a strong affinity for the work of Vincent van Gogh. Franz Marc developed an
important friendship with the artist August Macke in 1910. In 1911 he formed the Der Blaue
Reiter artist circle with Macke, Wassily Kandinsky, and other artists who decided to split off
from the Neue Künstlervereinigung movement.
Franz Marc showed several of his works in the first Der Blaue Reiter exhibition at the
Thannhauser Gallery in Munich between December 1911 and January 1912. Franz Marc began becoming
increasingly influenced by futurism and cubism, and his art became increasingly stark and
abstract in nature. His name was on a list of notable artists to be withdrawn from combat in
World War I. Before the orders were carried out, he was killed instantly when he was struck in
the head by a shell splinter.
Quotes by Franz Marc on art
" Is there any more mysterious idea for an artist than the conception of how nature is
mirrored in the eyes of an animal? How does a horse see the world, or an eagle, or a doe, or a
dog?..."
" There is little abstract art today, and what there is is stammering and imperfect. It is
an attempt to let the world speak for itself, instead or reporting the speech of minds excited
by their picture of the world. "
" Only today can art be metaphysical, and it will continue to be so. Art will free itself
from the needs and desires of men. We will no longer paint a forest or a horse as we please or
as they seem to us, but as they really are. "
" The people itself ( and I do not mean the 'masses' ) has always given art its essential
style. The artist merely clarifies and fulfills the will of the people. But when the people does
not know what it wants, or, worst of all, wants nothing, ... then its artists driven to seeking
their own forms, remain isolated, and become martyrs ..."
" The art of the future will give form to our scientific convictions; this is our religion
and our truth, and it is profound and weighty enough to produce the greatest style and the
greatest revaluation of form that the world has ever seen. "
Contemporary German Artists
Art Galleries in Germany
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