The Dead Sparrow 1905

Franz Marc made this small painting of a dead sparrow with oil on canvas. You can see how the making of art is a process, with the marks and brushstrokes that are left on the surface. I am really drawn to the texture in this piece, the paint is applied so thickly that it creates a tangible, almost sculptural quality. The colours are muted - mostly browns, tans, and creams - and they create a sense of melancholy and stillness. If you look closely at the bird's head, you can see how Marc used short, quick strokes to define the feathers. It's like he's trying to capture the fragility of life in these small gestures. It reminds me of Chaim Soutine, who similarly used a visceral approach to the physicality of paint and whose paintings were often centered around raw meat and carcasses. Ultimately, this work is less about a fixed image, and more about an ongoing conversation between the artist and the materials with which they work.