Franz Marc Franz Marc ( February 8 , 1880 – March 4 , 1916 ) was a German painter and printmaker , one of the key figures of the German Expressionist movement . He was a founding member of " Der Blaue Reiter " ( The Blue Rider ) , a journal whose name later became synonymous with the circle of artists collaborating in it . Early life and education . Franz Marc was born in 1880 in Munich , then the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria . His father , Wilhelm , was a professional landscape painter ; his mother , Sophie , was a strict Calvinist . In 1900 , Marc began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts , Munich , where his teachers included Gabriel von Hackl and Wilhelm von Diez . In 1903 and 1907 , he spent time in France , particularly in Paris , visiting the city ' s museums and copying many paintings , a traditional way for artists to study and develop technique . In Paris , Marc frequented artistic circles and was able to meet artists , including the actress Sarah Bernhardt . He discovered a strong affinity for the work of Vincent van Gogh . Marriage and family . During his twenties , Marc was involved in a number of stormy relationships , including a years - long affair with Annette von Eckardt , a married antique dealer nine years his senior . He married twice , first to Marie Schnuer , then to Maria Franck . Career . In 1906 , Marc traveled with his elder brother Paul , a Byzantine expert , to Thessaloniki , Mount Athos , and various other Greek locations . A few years later , in 1910 , Marc developed an important friendship with the artist August Macke . In 1911 , Marc founded the " Der Blaue Reiter " journal , which became the center of an artist circle , along with Macke , Wassily Kandinsky , and others who had decided to split off from the " Neue Künstlervereinigung " ( New Artist ' s Association ) movement . Marc showed several of his works in the first " Der Blaue Reiter " exhibition at the Thannhauser Galleries in Munich between December 1911 and January 1912 . As it was the apex of the German expressionist movement , the exhibit also showed in Berlin , Cologne , Hagen , and Frankfurt . In 1912 , Marc met Robert Delaunay , whose use of color and futurist method was a major influence on Marc ' s work ; fascinated by futurism and cubism , Marc created art increasingly stark and abstract in nature . Camouflage pioneer . Marc enlisted as a cavalryman , but by February 1916 , as shown in a letter to his wife , he had gravitated to military camouflage . His technique was to paint canvas covers in broadly pointillist style . He took pleasure in creating a series of nine such tarpaulin covers in styles varying " from Manet to Kandinsky " , suspecting that the latter could be the most effective against aircraft flying at 2000 meters or higher , noting that the role of camouflage was to hide artillery from aerial observation . After mobilization of the German Army during World War I , the government identified notable artists to be withdrawn from combat for their own safety . Marc was on the list but was struck in the head and killed instantly by a shell splinter during the Battle of Verdun in 1916 before orders for reassignment could reach him . Style . Marc made some sixty prints in woodcut and lithography . Most of his mature work portrays animals , usually in natural settings . His work is characterized by bright primary color , an almost cubist portrayal of animals , stark simplicity and a profound sense of emotion . Even in his own time , his work attracted notice in influential circles . Marc gave an emotional meaning or purpose to the colors he used in his work : blue was used to portray masculinity and spirituality , yellow represented feminine joy , and red encased the sound of violence . After the National Socialists took power , they suppressed modern art ; in 1936 and 1937 , the Nazis condemned the late Marc as an " entarteter Künstler " ( degenerate artist ) and ordered approximately 130 of his works removed from exhibition in German museums . His painting “ Landscape With Horses ” was discovered in 2011 along with over a thousand other paintings , in the Munich apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt whose dealer father , Hildebrand Gurlitt , was a collector of Modernist art the Nazis called “ degenerate . ” One of Marc ' s best - known paintings is " Tierschicksale " ( " Animal Destinies " or " Fate of the Animals " ) , which hangs in the Kunstmuseum Basel . Marc had completed the work in 1913 , when " the tension of impending cataclysm had pervaded society " , as one art historian noted . On the rear of the canvas , Marc wrote , " Und Alles Sein ist flammend Leid " ( " And all being is flaming agony " ) . Conscripted during World War I , Marc wrote to his wife of the painting , " [ it ] is like a premonition of this war — horrible and shattering . I can hardly conceive that I painted it . "