The Birth of Horses 1913

Franz Marc made this woodcut called, 'The Birth of Horses', and it's all about process. He's not trying to trick you into thinking you're seeing horses, he's inviting you to feel the making, the cutting. Look at the lower horse's head. See how the dark lines of the mane are almost violently hacked out? This isn't about rendering, it's about the action. It’s as if Marc wants you to feel the resistance of the wood, the pressure of the blade. The colors, too – that earthy brown, the almost acidic green, the stark black and white – they vibrate together, creating a sense of raw energy. This isn't a gentle scene of birth; it’s a primal scream rendered in wood and color. Marc reminds me of Kandinsky, another artist who sought to express inner states through abstraction. But where Kandinsky is all soaring spirituality, Marc is grounded, earthy. His animals aren’t symbols; they're living, breathing beings, caught in the messy, beautiful act of creation.