Dreaming Horse 1913

Franz Marc made this watercolor called "Dreaming Horse," in Germany, sometime in the early twentieth century. Marc was associated with the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter, or "The Blue Rider." They believed in the power of art to express inner spiritual truths, and that it could challenge conventional perceptions of reality. The dreamlike atmosphere is created through the swirling lines and fractured forms that seem to break down the barrier between the conscious and the unconscious. Note how he uses symbolic colors to convey meaning. It may be no accident that Marc used primarily blue in this painting, because it was believed to represent spirituality and emotional depth. To fully understand Marc, historians turn to letters, manifestos, exhibition catalogues and the records of artists' groups. The dream world is, in this way, a product of the time, place and institutions of the early twentieth century.