The Large Blue Horses

In late 1911, Franz Marc and Vassily Kandinsky formed a loosely knit organization of artists in Munich who exhibited together until 1914 under the name of Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider). The group rejected the academic practices of the period and encouraged intellectual openness towards new pictorial sources. Their colorful expressionism took a lyrical form that the artists sought to imbue with mystical feelings and spiritual content. The Large Blue Horses illustrates in a very pure way the color theory that appeared in many of Marc’s works. The color blue is symbolic of the spiritual and intellectual forces that succeed, aided by yellow’s sensuousness and cheerfulness, in overcoming the powerful and brutal materiality of red. The innate nobility of the horse made it a perfect visual vehicle for Marc’s exploration of spirit’s triumph over matter.