Franz Marc
Franz Marc (1880 – 1916) was a German Expressionist painter who founded the artists' group the Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) with Wassily Kandinsky. He is famous for animal paintings in intense colours, such as blue horses and yellow cows; when the First World War broke out he joined the Bavarian army, went to the Western Front, and on 4 March 1916 was killed by a shell splinter near Verdun at the age of thirty-six.
| Lived | 1880 – 1916 |
|---|---|
| Active in | Munich · Bavarian Oberland (Sindelsdorf, Ried) · the Western Front |
| Known for | The Blue Rider; The Tower of Blue Horses and The Fate of the Animals |
| Game start | 1914 · age 34 · Painter in Bavaria (commoner) — The Guns of August |
Life at a glance
- 1880 Born in Munich on 8 February, son of the landscape painter Wilhelm Marc.
- 1900 Gives up his plan to study theology and enters the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.
- 1907 In Paris he sees paintings by Van Gogh and Gauguin and is strongly influenced.
- 1910 Becomes friends with the painter August Macke, and from about this time devotes himself to animal paintings that express feeling through colour.
- 1911 Founds the Blue Rider with Kandinsky and holds its first exhibition in Munich in December. Paints Blue Horse I, and the same year marries the painter Maria Franck in London (the marriage was formally recognised in Germany in 1913).
- 1912 Publishes the Blue Rider almanac with Kandinsky.
- 1913 Paints The Tower of Blue Horses and The Fate of the Animals.
- 1914 In spring he buys a house at Ried near the Kochelsee, and in August enlists in the Bavarian field artillery. In September his friend Macke is killed in Champagne.
- 1915 At the front he draws in a small sketchbook and writes letters to his wife.
- 1916 On 4 March, during the Verdun offensive, he is killed by a shell splinter near Braquis.
Family
The family members who appear with this character when you start the game. Years follow the historical record; where none survives, a ? is shown.
| Relation | Name | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Father | Wilhelm Marc | 1839 – 1907 | Landscape painter |
| Mother | Sophie Maurice | 1847 – ? | From Alsace |
| Elder brother | Paul | 1877 – 1949 | Byzantinist |
| Wife | Maria Franck | 1876 – 1955 | Painter; preserved his works and letters after his death |
In the game
You begin in August 1914 in the Bavarian Oberland as a painter of thirty-four. A month after the shots at Sarajevo, mobilisation has been ordered, and your friend Kandinsky, a Russian, is now an enemy alien and is packing his bags. You have no land or title, but your paintings, your friends and the house you bought at Ried this spring, and your wife Maria is with you.
In the first event, “The train to Lindau”, you choose whether to see Kandinsky off, look after the paintings he leaves behind, or say that this war will cleanse a sick Europe. The news of Macke in 1914, Christmas in Lorraine, and the sketchbook and letters of 1915 come one straight after another, and Sepp, a comrade in the same battery, and the nurse Klara come into this life.
The turning point is “If Germany had won at Verdun”, and the 1915 scene “Camouflage tarpaulins” is its eve. In real history, if you do not survive the crisis at Braquis in March 1916 the story ends; if you live, it goes on through the studio in Munich and the turnip winter to Munich in November 1918. If Germany wins at Verdun, another branch opens with a victor's peace and the art of a victorious nation.
- Scenario guide The Guns of August
- Era guide Victorian Era
- Related turning points What if the July Crisis of 1914 had not led to war?, What if Germany had won at Verdun in 1916?
Frequently asked questions
What was the Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter)?
A group of Expressionist painters formed in Munich in 1911 around Kandinsky and Marc, and the name of the almanac they published in 1912. Kandinsky later recalled that the name came about because both of them loved blue, Marc loved horses and he himself loved riders.
Why did Franz Marc paint animals blue and yellow?
In a letter to Macke in 1910 Marc wrote that blue stood for the austere, spiritual masculine principle, yellow for the gentle, cheerful feminine principle, and red for heavy, brutal matter. For him animals were purer beings than humans, and colour was the means of showing that purity and feeling.
How did Franz Marc die?
On 4 March 1916, during the Verdun offensive, he was killed by a shell splinter to the head while scouting on horseback near Braquis. Around that time the German government had decided to recall prominent artists from the front and had put his name on the list, but the order is said to have arrived after his death.
Sources
Franz Marc's letters and sketchbooks from the front; the Blue Rider almanac edited by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc (1912); general histories of modern art.