Young Boy with a Lamb; The Good Shepherd 1911

Franz Marc made this painting of a Young Boy with a Lamb, sometime before 1916, probably with oils. Look at the way Marc fearlessly puts down color, like a kid unafraid to mix everything together. It's this embrace of process that makes the painting feel so alive, like a snapshot of a thought in motion. The physicality of the paint here is wonderful, it’s neither thick nor thin, but juicy. Notice the almost garish flesh tones of the boy contrasted with the sickly green of the lamb. The mark making is confident, but not labored. Take the green swirl in the bottom left corner, see how it both describes the water and exists as a pure, abstract gesture? Marc was part of the Blue Rider group, and you can see that shared interest in color and emotion here. It makes me think of Kandinsky, also searching for that sweet spot where representation and abstraction meet. It’s a reminder that art isn't about answers, but about embracing the beautiful, messy questions.