Franz Marc

The great German painter Franz Marc may be regarded as one of the originators of modern art. With his friend Kandinsky he founded the 'Blue Rider' group, and together they propounded new ideas subscribed to by the avant-garde of European painters, including Picasso, Braque and Delaunay. Man plays only a small part in Marc's work; he wrote that 'the irreligious humanity which lived all around me did not excite my true feelings, whereas the virgin feeling for life of the animal world set alight everything good in me.' Animals, particularly horses, are central in his work; at first they are symbols of nature, but later they become the messengers of a higher spiritual world. As time passed, Marc turned increasingly to abstract art. He was killed in action at Verdun in 1916.