Forest with Squirrel by Franz Marc

Forest with Squirrels is an abstract Expressionist work by Franz Marc, painted with oils on a canvas. It is recognisable due to its bold and surprising use of colour and form. The vibrant hues and abstract shapes in this painting ensure that it is hard to tell where the forest ends and the squirrels begin.

At the same time, the painting conjures up a very definite sense of a forest space with a darting red animals in it - the squirrels. This is the dream like power of Expressionism at work.

This work of art was painted in 1913, just a few years before Franz Marc's death in Franc e in 1916. Though he started off painting landscapes in a somewhat realist style (especially during his years at art school in Munich), Marc gradually moved towards a more and more Expressionist style of painting.

This was particularly encouraged by his travels around Europe - after finishing art school in 1903, he went on a trip to France and beyond where he met and collaborated with several leading artists.

Marc has come to be known as one of the founders of Expressionism, not least because he was instrumental in creating and maintaining the popular Expressionist art journal called Der Blauer Reiter (or The Blue Rider in English).

This is not the only painting of animals that Marc produced. After 1910, Marc produced several animal pictures, and he appeared especially fascinated by pigs and horses, which he painted several times. His depiction of animals is often described as a Cubist one, and this can definitely be seen in Forest with Squirrel.