The Little Mountain Goats 1913 - 1914

Franz Marc painted "The Little Mountain Goats" using oil on canvas. The visible brushstrokes speak to Marc’s process, revealing an almost broken surface, where the animals and landscape become one. The qualities of oil paint are significant here. The colours blend into one another, so that representation becomes abstraction. This allows Marc to communicate not just what the goats look like, but how they feel. The application of paint is relatively simple, but it still demands a lot of embodied work, as the artist builds up the image. The context here is also key. Marc was part of the *Blaue Reiter* group, who embraced the idea of ‘spiritual expression in art’. This approach allowed artists to synthesize avant-garde aesthetic principles with romantic ideas about nature. It's a reminder that all materials have the potential to convey meaning. "The Little Mountain Goats" prompts us to rethink the divide between fine art and craft, inviting viewers to explore the ways in which materials and making shape our understanding of the world.