Conceptual Approach Paper

Fate of the Animals
Franz Marc
Franz Marc created the massive painting of Fate of the Animals in 1913, a representative example of highly conceptual arts. Horizontally, the whole painting is broken by two diagonals into four quadrants. As we can see from the painting, thee are few purely vertical or horizontal lines.
As to the aspect of colors, there are totally four colors used, representing different emotions. Colors tie into the meaning of the painting as much as the symbolic nature of the animals. In the painting, a blue deer slightly struggles in the very middle where two diagonals intersect as a fateful position. Below the jagged tree at the top left hand corner, two terrified green horses seem to escape drastically. In the lower left hand corner, a pair of red cows are more accepting of their fate, as appear frozen and unable to escape. (Levine 271) Additionally, meantime, four yellow foxes are watching others at a seemingly safe position on the right side of the painting.
Actually, it is difficult to make clear Franz Marc’s purpose for this painting. As referred to the background, Fate of the Animals gets you understand Franz’s feelings for the situation of the World War I by using such intense colors. Rather than several animals’ responses to the collapsed forest, it more represents people’s different attitudes and behaviors when facing the war.

Reference
Levine, Frederick S. "The Iconography of Franz Marc's Fate of the Animals." The Art Bulletin. 58/2 (1976): 269-277