Abstract Forms II, by Franz Marc

Abstract Forms II, Franz Marc, 1914, LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster

Key facts
Abstract Forms II is an oil on canvas painted in 1914 by Franz Marc (1880–1916), a leading figure of German Expressionism and co-founder of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) with Wassily Kandinsky. Held by the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur in Münster, the painting remained unfinished when the artist was called up for military service in early August 1914. The composition sets a dark, closed area on the left against a restless area on the right, where forms rise like flames. A house, a window and perhaps an elephant can still be made out. Closely related to Fighting Forms, held by the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, this painting marks Marc’s shift towards abstraction, two years before his death near Verdun.

I am very fond of Franz Marc, an artist who sadly died far too young: he was killed on 4 March 1916 near Verdun, at the age of 36, a casualty of the First World War. Yet he left behind a remarkable body of work, and this Abstract Forms II is, to me, a fine example of it, full of colour and life. The canvas is abstract, but the longer I look at it, the more figurative shapes I can make out: part of a house, a window, an animal that might be an elephant. That is what moves me about Marc. Even as he moves away from representation, he never entirely leaves behind the animal world that made him famous, with his blue horses and yellow cows. It is an unfinished canvas, left as it was when he went off to war in 1914. You almost feel you are watching the work in progress, as if the painter had only just put down his brush. That is what makes it so moving to me: it bears witness to a search cut short, at the very moment Marc was tipping over into abstraction. I readily compare it with Fighting Forms (Abstract Forms I), held by the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Both canvases date from the same year and share the same momentum. Fighting Forms is more accomplished, with its spectacular clash between a red force and a dark one. But I confess a preference for the freshness and mystery of this Münster version, which leaves more room for the imagination.

Abstract Forms II

In the top left corner, a patch of canvas is left bare. No colour, just the raw grain of the support. Right beside it, red flares up. Look at that large vermilion disc, pressed against a black pillar. Higher up, a yellow and blue window lights up in the shadows. On the right, everything breaks loose. Pinks, greens and yellows coil into scrolls and rise towards the edge. Somewhere, the outline of an elephant surfaces, for anyone willing to look for it.

In early August 1914, Franz Marc is called up. He leaves this painting unfinished in his studio. Co-founder of Der Blaue Reiter with Kandinsky, he is then sliding towards abstraction. Macke, Delaunay and the Futurists feed this evolution. His palette follows a precise theory: blue as masculine, yellow as feminine, red as brutal.

Here, the unfinished state opens a door onto the studio. Over the red, fine dark lines still sketch out arcs. On the right, pale outlines circle barely covered areas. Elsewhere, the oil is so thin that the weave of the canvas shows through. The LWL-Museum in Münster reads a house and an elephant in it. The title, for its part, speaks only of abstract forms.

An unfinished canvas

Stay a while in front of the painting. It never quite closes. Human beings have left Marc’s painting. Only this house still hints at their presence. To him, the animal seemed more beautiful and purer than man. And yet here he is, called up into a war of men. The canvas remains, warm and vibrant. Like a studio whose door has been left ajar.

News: Franz Marc at K20 in Düsseldorf

Autumn 2026 brings Franz Marc back into the spotlight. K20, part of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, is showing “Franz Marc: The Quest for a Better World” until 24 January 2027. It is his first major retrospective in more than twenty years, with around 120 works. The exhibition will then travel to the Kunstmuseum Bern from 26 February 2027. It offers a chance to place Abstract Forms II within Marc’s shift towards abstraction in 1914. It can also be compared with its companion piece, Fighting Forms (Abstract Forms I), held by the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. In Münster, meanwhile, the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur is preparing for the Skulptur Projekte year, which will run from 13 June to 3 October 2027.
Source: Kunstsammlung NRW, K20, Düsseldorf.