1914
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Genesis II is a 1914 by Franz Marc, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Three bright horses leap from swirling blue and green shapes. Their bodies glow like stained glass against a stormy background. Marc painted this for a Bible he never finished. The horses stand for the start of creation—calm animals rising from chaos. He believed animals were purer than people, so he used them to show big ideas. To see how Marc’s colors feel like music, look up *The Cleveland Museum of Art*.
Like other members of Der Blaue Reiter in Munich, Franz Marc focused on depicting animals, which symbolized joyous rebirth. Genesis II was made to illustrate the creation story in the book of Genesis; he planned to include it in an illustrated Bible. Here, three horses emerge from a background of chaos and movement. His Tiger is less joyous and more threatening than the bounding horses; with clenched teeth, the tiger leers toward a cowering animal behind it. After enthusiastically enlisting in the German army, Marc died in battle at Verdun, France, on March 4, 1916. His wartime death—and that…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism.
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