Pigs 1912

Franz Marc made this painting, “Pigs,” with oil on canvas. I imagine Marc was thinking about line and form, using these to evoke the essence of these creatures. The animals huddle close, a jumble of white and black that reminds me of thick impasto marks, each brushstroke layered deliberately, intuitively, to capture the weight and warmth of the pigs’ bodies. The painting's surface is alive, pulsating with colour and energy. There's an emotive gesture in the outline of the sleeping piglet; it captures the innocence and vulnerability of youth. Marc's simplification of form echoes the work of Gauguin, whilst his exploration of colour and emotion anticipates the intensity of Abstract Expressionists like de Kooning. Artists, like these pigs, are forever snuggled up together in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas. The beauty of painting is that it doesn’t offer any fixed meaning. Instead, we’re free to respond, interpret, and discover our own truths within its vibrant, ever-shifting surface.