''Blue Horses'' or ''Die grossen blauen Pferde'' (''The Large Blue Horses'') is a 1911 painting by German painter and printmaker

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 ...

(1880–1916).

Background

In 1911 Marc was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), and was the center of a circle of German and Russian expatriate artists with

August Macke August Robert Ludwig Macke (3 January 1887 – 26 September 1914) was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He lived during a particularly act ...

, Wassily Kandinsky and several others whose works were seminal to the development of German Expressionism.

Analysis

This work, which represents three vividly coloured blue horses looking down in front of a landscape of rolling red hills, is characterized by its bright primary colors and a portrayal that simplicity, and a profound sense of emotion. According to the 'Encyclopædia Britannica', "the powerfully simplified and rounded outlines of the horses are echoed in the rhythms of the landscape background, uniting both animals and setting into a vigorous and harmonious organic whole.". It is thought that the curved lines used to depict the subject are to emphasize "a sense of harmony, peace, and balance" in a spiritually-pure animal world and that by viewing human beings are allowed to join this harmony. Marc gave an emotional or psychological meaning or purpose to the colors he used in his work: blue was used for masculinity and spirituality, yellow represented feminine joy, and red encased the sound of violence and of base matter. Marc used blue throughout his career to represent spirituality and his use of vivid color is thought to have been an attempt to eschew the material world to evoke a spiritual or transcendental essence. This oil painting on

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

measures 41.625 inches by 71.3125 inches (unframed) and is unsigned. This is one of Marc's earliest major works depicting animals and the more important of his series of portraits of horses in various colors. It is often thought that Marc thought animals to be more pure and more beautiful than man and represented a more pantheistic understanding of the divine or of spirituality. Swiss painter Jean Bloé Niestlé (1884–1942) urged Marc to "capture the essence of the animal." According to art historian Gabi La Cava, Marc depicts "the feeling that is evoked by the subject matter is most important"—more so that zoological accuracy.

Provenance

In 1942, ''Blue Horses'' was purchased by the Walker Art Center in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

through The T. B. Walker Foundation and its Gilbert M. Walker Memorial Fund. This was the first major modernist work to enter the collection.Die Grossen Blauen Pferde (retrieved 18/06/2011)

In culture

The painting was the inspiration behind the title of a bestselling volume of poetry, ''Blue Horses'' (2014), by the American poet Mary Oliver.

Other notable animal paintings by Franz Marc

* ''Gelbe Kuh'' (

Yellow Cow ''Yellow Cow'' (german: Gelbe Kuh) is a painting by the German artist Franz Marc, dating to 1911. It is one of the artist's most well known works, and is one of several of his depictions of animals in Expressionist style. This work is oil on can ...

) (1911) * ''Blaues Pferd I''
Blue Horse I
(1911) * ''Die Kleinen Blauen Pferde'' (The Small Blue Horses) * ''Zwei Katzen, Blau und Gelb'' (Two Cats, Blue and Yellow) 1911 * ''Blaues Pferdchen'' (

Little Blue Horse ''Little Blue Horse'' is an oil on canvas painting by German Expressionist painter Franz Marc, from 1912. Description The has the dimensions of 57.5 x 73 centimeters. It is in the collection of the Saarland Museum, in Saarbrücken. The picture ...

) 1912 * '' Der Turm der Blauen Pferde'' (The Tower of Blue Horses) (1913), missing since 1945. * ''Die Kleinen Gelben Pferde'' (The Little Yellow Horses)

References

External links

Walker Art Center
{{Authority control 1911 paintings Paintings by Franz Marc Horses in art Paintings in Minnesota