Famous German painters

02/03/1880 into Munich 03/04/1916 into near Verdun, France

PERSONAL DATA:
NAME:	Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc
DATE OF BIRTH:
DATE OF DEATH:

Career:
Franz Marc was a German painter and one of the most important painters of the 20th century. He is also considered a co-founder of Expressionism in Germany.

His special trademark were his pictures with the recurring animal motifs. For him, these embodied purity and beauty, because animals live in harmony with nature and were thus an expression of paradise for him. The most famous of his paintings are the series with blue horses.

As the child of a painter, Franz Marc was born with art. After studying in Munich at the Academy of Fine Arts, he opened his own studio in Munich. There he met Wassily Kandinsky and founded the artists` association "Blauer Reiter". The group`s work paved the way for modern art as a whole. Especially in Franz Marc`s works, color was an important means of expression. He thus neglected more forms and objects in order to concentrate fully on color. The exhibitions of the "Blauer Reiter" brought the group great success.

At the beginning of the First World War, Marc was called up for military service. Two years later (1916) he fell before Verdun. His wife organized a Franz Marc memorial exhibition that same year. In 1937, the National Socialists confiscated Marc`s paintings. They called it "degenerate art". A part of his life was destroyed or sold abroad. Among others is the painting "Tower of the Blue Horses". Hermann Göring is said to have owned it last.

Known works of art:

Tiger