Franz Marc was born on February 8, 1880, in Munich. The son of a landscape painter, he decided to become an artist after a year of military service interrupted his plans to study philology. From 1900 to 1902 he studied at the Kunstakademie in Munich with Gabriel Hackl and Wilhelm von Diez. The following year, during a visit to France, he was introduced to Japanese woodcuts and the work of the Impressionists in Paris.
Marc suffered from severe depression from 1904 to 1907. In 1907 he went again to Paris, where he responded enthusiastically to the work of Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, the Cubists, and the Expressionists; later, he was impressed by the Henri Matisse exhibition in Munich in 1910. During this period he received steady income from the animal-anatomy lessons he gave to artists.
In 1910 Marc’s first solo show was held at Kunsthandlung Brackl, Munich; and he met August Macke and the collector Bernhard Koehler. He publicly defended the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM) and was formally welcomed into the group early in 1911, when he met Vasily Kandinsky. After internal dissension split the NKVM, he and Kandinsky formed Der Blaue Reiter, whose first exhibition took place in December 1911 at Heinrich Thannhauser’s Moderne Galerie, Munich. Marc invited members of the Berlin Brücke group to participate in the second Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) show two months later at the Galerie Hans Goltz, Munich. Der Blaue Reiter Almanac was published with lead articles by Marc in May 1912. When World War I broke out in August 1914 Marc immediately enlisted. He was deeply troubled by Macke’s death in action shortly thereafter; during the war, he produced his Sketchbook from the Field. Marc died on March 4, 1916, in Braquis, near Verdun-sur-Meuse, France.
This is part 5 of a 7-part series on the works of Franz Marc:
1912 Bull woodcut 16 x 22.2 cm (image) Museum of Modern Art, New York |
1912 Swimming Deer pencil on paper 10.2 x 17 cm |
1912 The Antelope gouache and watercolour on paper mounted on board 35.6 x 43.8 cm Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art |
1912 The Dream oil on canvas 100.5 x 135.5 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
1912 The Fear of the Hare oil on canvas 76.5 x 137 cm Private Collection |
1912 The Little Monkey oil on canvas 70.4 x 100 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich |
1912 The Shepherds oil on canvas 100 x 135 cm Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich |
1912 The Small Yellow Horses oil on canvas 66 x 104 cm Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart |
1912 Two Cats, Blue and Yellow oil on canvas 74 x 98 cm Kunstmuseum, Basel |
1912 Two Blue Donkeys (Horse and Donkey) gouache on paper 35 x 28 cm |
1912 Tigers woodcut 20 x 24.1 cm (image) Museum of Modern Art, New York |
1912 Tiger oil on canvas 111.5 x 101.5 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich |
1912 Three Horses gouache on card 33.5 x 47.5 cm |
1912 Three Animals woodcut 29.8 x 25.1 cm (sheet) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
1912 Three Animals oil and tempera on canvas 80 x 105 cm Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim |
1912 The White Dog oil on canvas 111 x 83 cm Private Collection |
1912 The White Cat oil on cardboard 48.8 x 60 cm Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, Halle / Landesmuseum Sachsen-Anhalt |
1912 The Waterfall (Women under a Waterfall) oil on canvas 164 x 158 cm Private Collection |
1912 Reconciliation woodcut on paper 20 x 26 cm Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA |
1912 Two Little Horses (Almanac vignette) pen and India ink on red paper 10.4 x 13.4 cm |
1912 Two Horses watercolour and gouache on paper 44.5 x 38.1 cm Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art |
1912-13 Tiger in the Jungle gouache and graphite on paper 10 x 16.9 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
1912-13 Two Deer Lying Down gouache on paper 10 x 17 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
1912-15 Large Landscape oil on burlap 110.5 x 211.5 cm |
c1912 Playing Dogs gouache on tan cardboard 38.1 x 54.6 cm Harvard University Art Museums Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College |
1913 "Four foxes", Franz Marc from Sindelsdorf to Wassily Kandinsky in Munich watercolour, gouache and ink 14 x 9 cm Municipal Gallery in the Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich |
1913 Animals in the Landscape (Three Calves and a Horse) pencil and watercolour on paper 16.2 x 21.6 cm |
1913 Birth of the Horses colour woodcut on Japanese paper 35.5 x 25.4 cm Municipal Gallery in the Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich |
1913 Birth of the Wolves woodcut 24.4 x 18.4 cm (image) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
1913 Bison in Winter (Red Bison) oil on canvas 66.5 x 71 cm Kunstmuseum, Basel |
1913 Black Cow behind a Tree tempera and gold leaf on a postcard 19 x 14 cm |
1913 Blue Horse with Rainbow watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper 16.5 x 26 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York |
1913 Boar and Sow (Wild Boar) oil on canvas mounted on cardboard 73.5 x 57.5 cm Museum Ludwig, Cologne |
1913 Cattle oil on canvas 92 x 130.8 cm Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich |
1913 Deer in a Flower Garden oil on canvas 55.3 x 77.4 cm Kunsthalle, Bremen |
1913 Deer in the Forest oil on canvas 100.9 x 104.7 cm Phillips Collection, Washington, DC |
1913 Dream oil on paper mounted on cardboard 76 x 101 cm Kunstmuseum, Bern |
1913 Dreaming Horse watercolour, gouache, ink, and graphite on paper 39.6 x 46.8 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |