Animal Destinies 1913

Curator: Stepping into this space, we're confronted by Franz Marc's "Animal Destinies" from 1913, rendered in oil paint with a style that swirls between cubism and German Expressionism. Editor: It feels like a primal scream frozen in paint, doesn't it? That fractured landscape and those contorted animal forms… pure anxiety. What happened to those joyous paintings of happy blue horses? Curator: Ah, the famous blue horses. Indeed a sharp contrast. This work comes from a darker time, just before the First World War. Notice the intense reds, blues, and browns clashing against each other, forming sharp, almost violent angles. Editor: The angles, yes, it's almost architectural, in the sense that a building is being dismantled and broken up and consumed. Was this an expensive material at the time? Were there social constraints during the production of this piece? Curator: It certainly speaks to his emotional state during this time of fear. I think he believed he could find truth about emotion in color that would show his audience, and help them feel differently than if the subjects had remained realistic, so perhaps oil and these colors were more transformative? Editor: Maybe the transformation goes deeper. It's easy to assume he had unlimited materials. What was going on behind the scene? Were workers in the studio facing labor exploitation? This is what dictates form and intention as well. I also notice the dark colors he chooses, suggesting at his mindset, or the lack of materials for these brighter alternatives. Curator: I do believe there is validity in what you are saying here! He was not naive and faced constant trauma and challenges, although, to the trauma point again, it is speculated that Marc sought a way to reflect this sense of foreboding in his artwork—he felt something terrible was on the horizon, both for the world, and unfortunately as we now know, for himself. Editor: All this, transformed by labor into what we see—materials carefully chosen. Now I look at those animal shapes struggling within those constraints—a physical reality mirroring Marc's inner world—the cost and origin of those tubes of color matters as much as what was eventually expressed. Curator: The essence, right? Thanks for your input. I appreciate seeing the physical details! Editor: You’re welcome, it was worth exploring.