Artist, born in Munich, SE Germany. He studied in Munich, Italy, and France, and with Kandinsky founded Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) Expressionist group in Munich in 1911. Most of his paintings were of animals, such as the famous Tower of the Blue Horses (1911, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis), portrayed in forceful colours.
Franz Marc (February 8, 1880 – March 4, 1916) was one of the principal painters of the German expressionist movement.
Career
Marc was born in Munich and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich starting in 1900.
He showed several of his works in the first Der Blaue Reiter exhibition at the Thannhauser Gallery in Munich between December 1911 and January 1912. In 1912, Marc also met Robert Delaunay, whose use of color and futurism was the next major influence on Marc's work. Marc began becoming increasingly influenced by futurism and cubism, and his art became increasingly stark and abstract in nature.
Style and legacy
Most of Marc's mature work portrays animals, usually in natural settings. His work is characterized by bright primary color, an almost cubist portrayal of the animals, stark simplicity and a profound sense of emotion, which garnered notice in influential circles even in his own time.
Marc's best known painting is probably Tierschicksale (variously known as Animal Destinies or Fate of the Animals) completed in 1913, which hangs in the Basel Kunstmuseum in Basel.
In October 1998, several of Marc's paintings garnered record prices at Christie's art auction house in London, including Rote Rehe I (Red Deer I), which sold for £3.30m. This price set a record for both Franz Marc's work, and 20th century German painting.
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