Young Boy with a Lamb; The Good Shepherd 1911

Franz Marc, known for his expressionist paintings of animals, seems to be thinking about innocence, nature, and man's relationship to both with this painting. The lamb, a pale, almost sickly green, is draped over the shoulders of a naked boy—kind of an odd pairing if you think about it. I imagine Marc, with his brush loaded with color, circling the canvas, trying to figure out this almost surreal scene. Look at the pink and red that surrounds the figures; they seem protective and also slightly menacing. The orange of the boy pops, he seems self-assured, if a little disconnected. It’s like Marc is asking, can we return to a state of purity? Or is our connection to nature forever complicated? These are the types of questions painting can ask. We don’t need answers, just new ways of seeing.