Gazelles by Franz Marc

Franz Marc painted many pices in his life, mainly focused towards the depiction of animals or nature settings

However, later in his career a change in style could be noticed as his works became more and more abstract, gradually reaching a point where they ceased to depict wildlife at all.

This descent began when the signs of war appeared, and this piece, Gazelles, produced in 1913, was one of the earlier works to notice this change.

One can clearly see that the focus of this piece is on the majesty and beauty of Gazelles. This painting shows a group of three gazelles. The middle Gazelle is standing upright, and looking at something behind it over its shoulder.

The one to its left appears to be jumping over something. The right gazelle is rather unclear, but seems to standing facing the middle one, almost as if challenging it.

The background of this piece is more complicated. It shows two very different scenes. At a glance, it seems to be set in a forest or woods. However, a blue section to the right appears to show some sort of stone building.

The contrast between yellow and brown in the centre top seems to show a window, like one that would be found in a church.

This is a strange contrast to be made. It could suggest the instability of the beautiuful world, how easy it can be for something to ruin the natural order of the world.

As this piece was produced during a time when the thundercloud of war loomed, this could be an example of how this war could affect Germany, ruining all the things the artist loved, destroying the sense of security home brought.

The angry, almost challenging appearance of the right-hand gazelle adds to this, as it seems to be part of the stone building that is corrupting the forest.

This is one of the stranger and more difficult to interpret pieces by Franz Marc, but still manages to express a clear message and capture his feelings on the world.