Franz Marc

Born. 08.02.1880 in Munich, Germany
Died. 04.03.1916 in Braquis, France

German painter and graphic artist, expressionist

About the artist

Franz Marc was born 8 February 1880 in Munich, the son of the professional landscape painter, (Wilhelm Marc).

When he was 17, he planned to study theology, following in the footsteps of his older brother Paul. After serving one year in the military he went on to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. He was in Paris from 1903 to 1907, spending his time copying works of art from museums to improve his technique. Moving in artistic circles, he soon met many artists, and an actress called Sarah Bernhardt. It was during his time in Paris that he became interested in and inspired by painter Vincent van Gogh.

The majority of Marc’s work has an animal theme using vibrant eye-catching colours in a cubist style, elegantly simple but containing a lot of emotion. His work was so breathtaking that it attracted a lot of interest in influential circles at the time.

At the start of World War I, Marc was drafted into the Imperial German Army. His skill with painting was used to paint military camouflage in a large pointillist style.

The German government decided that important artists should not be fighting on the front line and sent orders for them to be withdrawn from combat. Unfortunately for Marc, he was struck on the head and killed instantly by a shell splinter during the Battle of Verdun on 4 March 1916 shortly before the orders for reassignment reached him.