K20 presents comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Expressionist painter Franz Marc

Franz Marc. The Quest for a Better World, Exhibition view, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen 2026. Photo: Linda Inconi-Jansen.

DUSSELDORF.— The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is presenting the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the Expressionist and co-founder of Der Blaue Reiter, Franz Marc (1880–1916), and thus the first major solo exhibition of his work in a German museum in over twenty years.

Vibrant colors, deeply moving themes, and world-famous animal images—what makes the art of Franz Marc (1880–1916) so fascinating to this day? The exhibition Franz Marc. The Quest for a Better World at K20 invites visitors to rediscover the life and work of this outstanding artist. Through January 24, 2027, visitors have the unique opportunity to experience masterpieces from all phases of Franz Marc’s career in one place.

Thanks to the support of numerous national and international public and private lenders, over 120 paintings and works on paper have been brought together. The exhibition traces the artist’s career—which spanned only a few years but was extraordinarily productive—in all its diversity, from his early works to his later, groundbreaking, and increasingly abstract compositions. Highlights include Marc’s iconic animal paintings and striking depictions of nature, which rank among the most famous works of classical modernism.

The exhibition Franz Marc. The Search for a Better World invites visitors to rediscover the artist. It reveals how closely Marc was integrated into the vibrant art and cultural scene prior to the First World War—and how impressively diverse his work became between 1905 and 1914. From his early animal depictions to his Cubist-inspired abstractions, the exhibition traces the path of a seeker—an artist who, in an era shaped by faith in progress, yearned for an earthly paradise. For Marc, his paintings were enclaves of harmony, but also blueprints for a new, ideal world, with which he fought against the rationalization and mechanization of the environment and the intellectual shallowness of society.

A Seeker

As the title The Quest for a Better World suggests, the exhibition responds to a need—as present then as it is today—for peace and a life in harmony with nature. For Franz Marc, this search was also a confrontation with his own artistic identity. In just under eight years, he traversed nearly the entire spectrum of modern art’s development, from Post-Impressionism to Abstraction. The exhibition traces the changing motifs and painting styles, reveals the surprising breaks and persistent doubts that characterize his work, and offers new insights into Marc’s attitude toward social upheavals and the looming war.

Franz Marc was born in Munich on February 8, 1880, and died in Braquis, near Verdun, France, on March 4, 1916. He began his artistic journey at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he initially engaged with naturalism and Jugendstil.

In 1905, he befriended the Swiss animal painter Jean-Bloé Niestlé (1884–1942), who reinforced and focused his interest in depicting animal motifs. For Marc, the focus was less on naturalistic representation and more on understanding the inner nature of animals. He described his primary approach as painting animals “the way they themselves look at the world and feel their being” (Letters, April 8, 1915). His animal paintings are rooted in a pantheistic worldview that conceives of animals as the embodiment of a divinity lost to humankind.

In 1903, and again in 1907, Marc traveled to Paris and studied old and new French art at the Louvre. He was particularly captivated by Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and, above all, painters such as Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) and Paul Gauguin (1848–1903).

Beginning in 1908, Marc’s understanding of composition and color underwent a fundamental shift. For Marc, color was not merely a means of enhancing expression but also possessed a deeper symbolic meaning. Drawing on sources such as Wolfgang von Goethe’s Theory of Colors, he developed his own color theory: Yellow embodies femininity, gentleness, and sensuality; red, the brutal and the earthly; blue, the spiritual, the intellectual, and the masculine. With this high-contrast—Expressionist—concept of color, Marc sought to make metaphysical dimensions visible in his paintings.

Abstraction

A joint trip to Paris in 1912 with his friend and fellow artist August Macke (1887–1914), during which they visited Robert Delaunay (1885–1941) and Sonia Delaunay (1885–1979) twice, marked a quantum leap in both artists’ painting. Although Franz Marc had been familiar with Cubist works by Georges Braque (1882–1963) and Pablo Picasso (1881–1971) since 1910, it was Robert Delaunay’s light-filled, crystalline window paintings that inspired him to create his own prismatic compositions.

In the months leading up to the outbreak of the First World War, the harmonious fusion of animals and nature, which had dominated Marc’s work until then, was replaced by an increasingly abstract visual language. As early as 1913, the animal motif began to lose its primary significance in the quest for a better world. A journey to socially and politically torn South Tyrol caused his formerly harmonious visions of the landscape to transform into dystopian scenes featuring lonely, emaciated animal creatures. Works such as Das arme Land Tirol (The Poor Land of Tyrol, 1913), as well as Kämpfende Formen (Fighting Forms, 1914) and Zerbrochene Formen (Broken Forms, 1914), reflect Marc’s inner turmoil and the conflict of emotions he felt in the face of the looming, profound turning point in history and the growing threat of war.

Connections and Groups

Despite his reclusive life in the Bavarian Alpine Foreland, Franz Marc was not an introverted artist. Rather, the painter of animal motifs was a critical thinker who was prepared to take clear stands in artistic debates and did not shy away from conflict. With utmost confidence and expertise, Marc acted as an “ambassador of Der Blaue Reiter” in his dealings with fellow artists, collectors, and gallerists. His comprehensive academic education, with a degree in literature and linguistics, and his bilingual upbringing by his Alsatian mother shaped him just as much as his intensive engagement with contemporary art, which he passionately championed in programmatic texts.

Franz Marc cultivated close friendships and artistic exchanges. In addition to Niestlé, it was above all August Macke who became his close friend and intellectual partner beginning in 1910. Marc and Macke exchanged views on artistic questions in numerous letters and conversations, discussing color symbolism and new forms of expression. Macke’s influence was evident as Marc began to expand his expressive color palette and two-dimensional compositions.

As a member of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (New Munich Artists’ Association), Marc met Marianne von Werefkin (1860–1938), Gabriele Münter (1877–1962), Alexej von Jawlensky (1864–1941), and Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), as well as Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), with whom he founded the editorial collective Der Blaue Reiter in late 1911.

The Berlin artist Maria Franck (1876–1955), whom Marc met in 1905 and married in 1913, also played a significant role in his artistic development. She was not only his muse and confidante but also a partner who supported him intellectually. Their travels together and their lively exchanges with like-minded individuals reinforced Marc’s conviction that art is not only an individual form of expression but also a collective process.

Accordingly, Marc worked to expand his network far beyond Munich. It extended to Berlin, Bonn, and Paris. Among his most important contacts were the Berlin collector Bernhard Köhler (1849–1927) and Herwarth Walden (1878–1941), founder of the magazine Der Sturm. At the Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (First German Autumn Salon), which Walden initiated in 1913, Marc advised on the selection of artists and the layout of the exhibition.

Walden not only presented Marc’s works in Germany but also brought them to Paris, where they met with great interest at the galleries of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884–1979) and Ambroise Vollard (1866–1939). Franz Marc valued his exchanges with gallerists and artists and was aware of the influence this had on his own artistic practice. Among the close friendships Marc cultivated were those with Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945), Alfred Kubin (1877–1959), and Paul Klee (1879–1940).

Exhibition Layout

The exhibition traces Franz Marc’s artistic development through a chronological layout with thematic focal points. A special room within the exhibition presents the groups and networks in which Marc was active. Examples from the circle of Der Blaue Reiter, including works by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Maria Franck, August Macke, and Robert Delaunay, will be on view there. These works are drawn from the museum’s own collection and illustrate the artistic milieu in which Marc created his work.

The starting point of the exhibition is Franz Marc’s painting Drei Katzen (Three Cats, 1913), which is part of the museum’s collection. This important painting was acquired in 1973 by the then-director, Werner Schmalenbach. Drei Katzen dates from the artist’s late period and depicts the animals compositionally integrated into the natural surroundings. The painting significantly illustrates the transition from Romantic animal painting to abstraction.

Curator: Susanne Meyer-Büser