Mandrill
1913
Franz Marc's 'Mandrill' is a wild, swirling explosion of color that barely resembles the primate it's named after. Created in 1913 during the height of German Expressionism, Marc used bold blues and greens to capture the animal's spiritual essence rather than its physical reality. You can still see the frantic pencil sketches underneath the watercolor washes, showing how he built up these dynamic, almost cubist shapes. It's a perfect example of how the Der Blaue Reiter movement wanted to break free from traditional realism and paint the 'inner truth' of nature.
- Technique
- Watercolor and pencil
- Material
- Paper
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