''Blue Horse I'' is an oil painting by

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later b ...

completed in 1911. It is one of the painter's most famous works and is part of the collection of the

Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus The Lenbachhaus () is a building housing an art museum in Munich's ''Kunstareal''. The building The Lenbachhaus was built as a Florentine-style villa for the painter Franz von Lenbach between 1887 and 1891 by Gabriel von Seidl and was expand ...

in Munich. The painting was part of several exhibitions that Franz Marc and fellow Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky presented to the public under the name Der Blaue Reiter from late 1911 until 1914.Franz Marc, ''Blaues Pferd I'', 1911, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (German)

History

In 1911, Marc drew in his sketchbook no. XXIV a pencil drawing, about the size of a postcard, entitled ''Young Horse in Mountain Landscape'', which already shows the composition of the later painting. In the same year, he transcribed the sketch in great detail into a large oil painting. In the color theory of Marc and the Der Blaue Reiter group, the blue color stands for the spiritual principle. The painting was initially not understood and was derided or even spat upon. It was part of the private collection of

Bernhard Koehler Bernhard Koehler (born 7 November 1849 in Berlin; died 30 March 1927 in Berlin) was a German industrialist and art collector. Life Koehler, who came from a family of merchants, grew up in Berlin. In 1876, Koehler founded the ''Mechanische Werk ...

, who supported Marc financially and received paintings from the artist in return. Koehler bequeathed his art collection to his son, also named Bernhard, in 1927. After the son's death, the painting came to the Bernhard Koehler Foundation. In 1965, it was offered to the

in Munich, where it has been exhibited ever since. As a popular poster and postcard motif, it is now one of the most frequently reproduced paintings in recent art history.Stefan Dege: "Der Blaue Reiter": Vor 140 Jahren wurde Franz Marc geboren", In: dw.com. ''Deutsche Welle'', 7 February 2010 (German)

Description

Almost the entire height of the portrait-format painting is taken up by a

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal i ...

painted in blue, facing the viewer and tilting its head slightly to one side. The upper body is light blue with white spots, while the hooves and mane are painted in dark navy blue. The landscape in which the foal is shown is dominated by strong contrasts of complementary colors, some of which are sharply demarcated from one another. The foreground is in vermilion and light green, and strong dark green brushstrokes indicate vegetation. The hilly landscape in the background changes from carmine to yellow, violet, and blue to orange at the top of the picture. The blue color of the horse represents peace and the calm state of mind that Marc would have had when drawing it. Blue horses are symbolically bound to certain of the originating conceptions of the contemporaneous Blue Rider group: in the symbol of the horse as a vehicle of breakthrough, in the emphasis on the spirituality of the color blue, and in the idea of spirituality battling materialism. Marc used the blue horse motif again in several of his paintings in the following years, from 1911 to 1914.

Honours

The Deutsche Post issued a stamp with the painting on 9 February 2012, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Der Blaue Reiter.

References

External links

Blue Horse I, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (German)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Horse I 1911 paintings Horses in art Paintings by Franz Marc Paintings in the Lenbachhaus

History

Description

Honours

See also

References

External links