Two Women on the Hillside by Franz Marc

In 1903 Marc traveled to Paris, a trip that was to have a huge impact on his subsequent works. While in Paris he studied the works of the Post-Impressionists and after this Paris trip his work began to show a greater focus on colour and form rather than direct representation and realism.

Two Women on the Hillside is an early example of this departure from realism and his new focus which would culminate in his abstract works such as Broken Forms.

The painting shows two women, Maria Schnur and Maria Franck, two women that would later become his wife at different stages of his life. In terms of style, this painting is something of a hybrid between Post-Impressionist and the more extreme abstraction that would come to characterise Marc's later works and in this painting we see an attempt by Marc to show a harmonious and almost symbiotic relationship between humans and nature.

As in so many of Marc's works we see the theme of repeating lines as we see the curves of the hillside reflected in the curves lines of Maria Franck, highlighting the closeness of humans to the natural world.

In the Tower of Blue Horses, as he does in so much of his work, Marc uses repeated lines and lack of depth to great effect.

Whereas in Blue horses the effect is one of tension and impending doom the lines and mood of Two Women on the Hillside is wholly different and the lines and lack of depth are used to create a gentler mood and depict a feeling of intimacy between the women and the landscape.

The mirroring of the landscape in the women's forms is subtle and unforced but carries a clear message in this work.