228.5cm x 78.7cm

The painting started in 2005 and completed in 2009 is comprised of three panels stretching to ninety inches in length and is a tribute to the German expressionist painter Franz Marc who’s characters make up eighty percent of the composition.

Franz Marc was born in Munich in 1880 and was killed in 1916 during the First World War. He along with August Macke and Wassilly Kandinsky founded the famous Blue Rider Group, a cornerstone of German Expressionist art.

Three of Marc’s paintings; Animal Destiny, Rinder (Cattle) and Deer In The Woods are the anchor base to the painting. These were all completed during the last few years of his short life.

During Franz Marc’s later life, he met Robert Delaunay, whose use of colour and futurist method was a major influence on his work. He was also drawn towards cubism, and as a result his art developed in the direction of a more abstract nature. This tribute painting touches on all of these aspects.

Most of Marc’s mature work portrays animals, usually in natural settings. His work is characterized by bright primary colour, an almost cubist portrayal of animals, stark simplicity and a profound sense of emotion, which garnered notice in influential circles even in his own time.

Marc also gave an emotional meaning or purpose to the colours he used in his work, blue would be used for masculinity and spirituality, yellow represented feminine joy and red encased the sound of violence.