The Enchanted Mill 1913

Franz Marc’s, The Enchanted Mill, at the Art Institute of Chicago, is a painting of no specific date, made with oils on canvas. What I love about this painting is its feeling of being made, not found. The materiality of this work is so open, you can see the paint doing its thing. Franz has let the paint behave like paint, but with some added direction. The colours are rich, jewel like tones, but not descriptive, you’re getting what he feels, rather than what he sees. Check out how the waterfall has been rendered. It's almost like white string, hung from above. Marc worked alongside Kandinsky and other expressionist painters in Germany at the start of the 20th century. He was interested in nature, but more than that, in ways that painting can create a world, rather than simply mimic it. I think he and Joan Miró would have had a lot to talk about. In the end it's this ambiguity that makes it still so engaging today.