Franz Marc, Fate of the Animals, 1913, Oil on canvas. The work contrasts with most of Marc’s other works by presenting animals in a brutal way rather than peacefully depicting them. It is an apocalyptic vision that reflects the atmosphere before the outset of World War 1. On the back of the canvas, Marc placed an inscription stating that all being is flaming suffering. Like this inscription, the vision is a chaotic scene where animals flee in terror from the flames. Marc believed that corruption and soulless society could only be reformed through radical change or destruction. The subject of the painting is linked to a story by French novelist, Gustav Flaubert, The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitalier.
Through the use of diagonals, Marc constructed a very severe and organized composition, which provides balance and order to the scene of confusion and chaos. The diagonals add to the tension and intensity of the painting. They emphasize the contrast between the tones of blue, red and green. Marc created a synthesis of elements from several art movements such as the cubism structures and the futurist’s’ lines. Ancient Nordic myths inspired the natural features in the painting. The central motif of the trees relates to Yggdrasil, a giant world ash tree that nourishes all spiritual and physical life in the ancient Nordic cosmology. As such, the tree might be providing shelter and protection to the group of animals hiding in the right.
Differently, Vassily Kandinsky painted the improvisation 28(second version), 1912, oil on canvas in Germany. He was epitomized by his use of horse and rider motif which symbolized his crusade. The painting depicts cataclysmic events on one side of the canvas and the paradise of spiritual salvation on the other side. He was one of the founders of the Der Blaue Reiter movement which believed in abstraction as a way to perceive the natural world in terms that went beyond representation. He thought that art should be an expression on spiritual necessity. Vassily also believed that if a picture could be easily interpreted, then the conscious mind would take over, and that would lessen our ability to respond to color and form. He also associated painting with music synthesis, arguing that sight must be related not only to the taste but also to other senses. Arnorld Schonbergs, a musician, influenced him. Vassily stated that color is the keyboard, the eye is the hammer, and the soul is the piano with many strings.
Vassily used brilliant colors, black diagonal lines that crisscrossed with each other that feel like weapons moving through space. In comparison to the previous painting, the analogue could be that of war, in 1912, two years before the Russian revolution. The picture is abstracted- things in the art are not recognized too clearly. The painting is also rooted in the ancient tradition of choosing biblical subjects. Historians view the picture as an apocalypse. In the lower-left, there is a wave of a flood as Noah’s in the bible. Above the flood, canons are beginning to be fired. The atmospheric effect almost reads like smoke on the battlefield. Down at the bottom are the necks of horses. They reference the horsemen of the apocalypse and the idea of redemption.
In comparison to the later painting, both artists are German Expressionists. Although color plays a prominent role in German art of the early 20th century, the expressiveness of German images is mostly due to distortions of forms, ragged outlines, and agitated brushstrokes.