Blue Horse I 1911

Franz Marc made this canvas with oil paint, and he built up a really vibrant world. The way the artist has daubed and layered those vivid greens, reds, yellows, and blues makes me think he really loved the way the pigment itself could create feeling. I can imagine Marc thinking about the horse, not just as an animal, but as something that could be translated into feeling. The brushstrokes, the way the colors bleed together, it’s all so intuitive. He takes a familiar image, a horse, and transforms it into a landscape of emotion. There is a kind of reverence for the animal, but also a desire to push beyond the literal, almost like he is trying to paint the animal’s soul. It is a conversation between the seen and the unseen. I think Marc knew that painting is a way of thinking.