Bathing Girls 1910

Franz Marc’s ‘Bathing Girls’ is an oil painting, made at a time when he was searching for a kind of visual purity. Look at how the artist approaches color. See how the background is rendered in bands of pale yellow and blue. The foreground is punctuated by reds, oranges, and greens that create a sense of depth and movement. I imagine Marc, stepping back, squinting his eyes, and moving the paint around until it seemed right, or rather, until it seemed to vibrate. It is almost as if Marc is painting with light itself, capturing the way it shifts and flickers through the trees. And, in his paintings of animals he was trying to evoke a sense of pure being—but here, the figures look awkward, almost as though they have been placed in an unfamiliar landscape. Perhaps he sees the human form as something separate from nature? Marc's painting is an ongoing conversation of artists across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.