The Steer (The Bull) 1911

Curator: Franz Marc painted "The Steer," or "The Bull," in 1911 using oil paint. It’s currently part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum collection. Editor: It has a striking yet unsettling calmness. The bull, rendered in simplified forms, curls into itself, nestled in vividly colored vegetation. There’s something almost mournful about it. Curator: Marc, of course, was a central figure in German Expressionism, a movement deeply invested in conveying emotion. His work often explored animals, which he felt possessed a purity absent in humanity. Considering the historical moment, before the horrors of World War One, his pastoral scenes offer a pointed critique of civilization. Editor: That lens changes my perspective. Is the unnatural color palette meant to disorient us? And I notice the limited brushstrokes—they create tension. What do you think about situating it within debates around man's relationship with nature, or even agricultural practices of that era? Curator: Absolutely. These animals became symbols, not only for artistic expression but for profound cultural anxieties about industrialization and mechanization that removed human’s contact with nature, something central to socialist thinking, too. Editor: I wonder if the composition alludes to something even deeper than what meets the eye in his other work. Curator: The distorted perspective might reflect the era’s shift toward non-representational art, and an interior state of feeling rather than visual accuracy. But don't underestimate the simple choice to focus on an animal - that’s not so innocent! Editor: The art world continues to evolve so we reevaluate art from a wide spectrum of perspectives, like his influence to question norms around animal representation, its complicated past continues to challenge us. Curator: Exactly, so while the Expressionists sought universal emotional truths, it's clear how they responded to and shaped our world’s politics of art and visual messaging.