The Blue Horse by Marc Franz (1911)

February 10, 2022, 1:30 pm, 30⁰F (-1⁰C), Cloudy
 


Today, in the art class we painted The Blue Horse, a world famous painting by the German artist, Marc Franz, who had created this legendary painting in 1911. We used water color pencils with transfer on the transparent Yupo paper. With water color pencil, we painted a particular portion of the drawing and then with a lightly watered brush we painted gradations to give a 3-dimensional effect.  Yupo paper is tree-free, synthetic paper that's 100% recyclable and waterproof. These free art classes are offered by the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center for caregivers.
 
Following background information on The Blue Horse painting was excerpted from an article from a newspaper - The Hindu.
 
For Marc, horses meant freedom, while blue was a color of peace and calm.
 
“German artist Franz Marc loved animals. One of his paintings, called The Blue Horse, is world famous. The artist used unusual colors for this picture. He felt that colors had special meanings — blue was a male color that stood for calm and peaceful behavior. Yellow was a female color, gentle and happy. Red was the color of war and violence. Horses made him think of freedom and a pure spirit.”
 
“In the painting, a blue horse stands with his head thoughtfully tilted. In the background there are bright brown, yellow, and green hills. Franz Marc painted this and other paintings of animals before the start of World War I.
 
It’s about feeling
“This style of painting where objects are not exactly the shape or color that you find in real life is called abstract expressionism. In expressionism, the shapes and colors tell us how the artist feels about the subject.”
 
“In 2012, the German government issued a postage stamp with a picture of The Blue Horse to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of its creation.

Children’s author Eric Carle wrote a book called The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse to tell children that they don’t always need to follow rules when they paint. They can choose to paint their animals in any color they wish to.”