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Franz Marc (February 8, 1880 – March 4,
1916) was one of the principal painters of the
German expressionist movement.

Marc was born in Munich and studied at the Academy
of Fine Arts, Munich starting in 1900.  In 1903
and 1907 he spent time in Paris and discovered a
strong affinity for the work of Vincent van Gogh.
Marc developed an important friendship with the
artist August Macke in 1910. In 1911 he formed the
Der Blaue Reiter artist circle with Macke, Wassily
Kandinsky, and other artists who decided to split
off from the Neue Künstlervereinigung movement.

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.
The exhibition was the apex of the German
expressionist movement and also showed in Berlin,
Köln, Hagen, and Frankfurt. In 1912, Marc also
met Robert Delaunay, whose use of color and
Futurism (art)|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. 

Most of his 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.

His name was on a list of notable artists to be
withdrawn from combat in World War I.  Before the
orders were carried out, while riding a horse on
patrol in the Battle of Verdun (1916), a grenade
explosion killed him.

In October, 1998, several of Marc's paintings
garnered record prices at Christie's art auction
house in London.


== External links ==
commons|Franz Marc
*
http://hs.riverdale.k12.or.us/~dthompso/art/marc/g
allery/  Gallery of Marc's work
*
http://hs.riverdale.k12.or.us/~dthompso/art/marc/l
inks.html  Links on Marc
* http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/marc/
WebMuseum Franz Marc Page