Franz Marc was born in Munich in 1880 to a landscape painter father who was undoubtedly a great influence on Marc’s decision to forego his interest in theology as a young man, and instead incorporate many symbolic ideas into art. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich when he was twenty years old. When he visited Paris in 1907 he gained exposure to the acclaimed works of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists and he was particularly drawn the paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Gauguin. These influences, along with the later tides of Cubism would become great sources of inspiration to Marc’s artwork. He also developed what would grow to be a lifelong friendship with painter Kandinsky The two would share many philosophies and exchange ideas. In 1911 a group of artists including Franz Marc created the Blaue Reiter which was a group who believed in the use of a greater abstraction in art to convey spiritual and other symbolic ideas. In a visual sense, the paintings of Franz Marc are examples of works full of emotion with a great simplicity of visual design in most cases, but use of very vivid colors to portray moods. The paintings vary in their stages of abstraction, but in all of the paintings, colors are used in an artistic and symbolic, rather than purely physically representative manner. The oil paintings of Franz Marc took this idea to his favored subject: horses. Most of the paintings that he created were abstracted or otherwise color rich depictions of horses that were carefully portrayed in specific positions that had a great symbolic meaning and experience for Marc. For example, the symbolism of colors used in many Franz Marc paintings is integral to understanding the meaning of the work. Blue was seen a simultaneously spiritual and masculine shade, whereas another primary color, yellow, was seen as the feminine. Even shapes such as triangles and circles had specific meanings that Franz Marc believed could be transferred to the viewer of the painting, regardless of whether they knew of the implicit symbolism he had in mind while creating the work. Within the paintings of Franz Marc, specific messages were assumed to reach the viewer as a result of a direct connection of human spirituality and commonness. Later in his career, Franz Marc began to experiment with even more abstract styles of painting which were most likely influenced by the growing movement of Cubism and Futurism. Despite the increased abstraction of his work, Franz Marc oil paintings continued to exhibit the form of the horse, even if not immediately recognizable to most viewers. The ability of expression that Franz Marc found in these styles of paintings was integral and even necessary to upholding his overall, encompassing philosophies about life and art. Some of the most famous paintings by Franz Marc are titled: The Tiger, Gelbe Kuh, Little Blue Horse, Die Fuchse, Large Blue Horses, Little Yellow Horses, Vogel, Fate of the Animals, Tower of Blue Horses, Broken Shapes, Yellow Cow, and In the Rain.