1913
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
The Bewitched Mill is a 1913 oil by Franz Marc, a Der Blaue Reiter work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows a mill with vibrant colors and distorted shapes. It's an unusual scene with bold brushstrokes. The artist was interested in how animals see the world, which is an interesting idea. He started exploring this idea in 1905, and it changed his art. He wanted to show the world in a fresh way. You can see more of this style by looking at the technique of glazing.
Among the German Expressionists, artists who used strong color and exaggerated form to express emotional content, Franz Marc was especially committed to his empathic interest in the life of animals. Is there a more mysterious idea, he asked, than to imagine how nature is reflected in the eyes of animals? Beginning in 1905, he devoted himself to representing the world with a fresh and purifying vision. Marc painted The Bewitched Mill following a sojourn to the Italian town of Merano in the southern Tirol. The work's title refers to the magical harmony he sensed there between human life,…
The artist, Munich; sold to Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859–1920), Chicago, 1914 [Barnett 2022]; by descent to his wife, Lucy O. Eddy (1863-1931) and son, Jerome O. Eddy (1891-1951), Chicago, 1920; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1931.
Chicago, Art Institute, Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of the Late Arthur Jerome Eddy, September 19-October 22, 1922, cat. 50. Chicago, Art Institute, The Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture, December 22, 1931-January 17, 1932, cat. 12 (ill.). Chicago, Art Institute, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 757. Cleveland Museum of Art, Expressionism and Related Movements, January 26-February 28, 1939, no cat. Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art, Contemporary German Art, November 2-December 9, 1939,…
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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